Gemzar Not Working

[ladyjogger31]

Well, my ca 125 has jumped from 50 in March to 241 last week. I had four treatments of Gemzar and my counts kept going up. That was my 3rd line treatment so far. My Onc said that we will stop the Gemzar and do a PET scan. I never had one before only the ct scans. He said if there is a tumor that he is considering doing radiation. Any one ever have radiation for Ovarian cancer? He also suggested tamoxifen. Has any one been on tamoxifen? I'm getting really discouraged. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hugs, Prayers and Love, Terry

[crecco]

Terry,
   Sorry it took me a few days to get back with you. I have never had radiation, but please do not get discouraged. I do not know if you are able to recieve avastin or not but you might suggest it to your Dr. I am currently back on Gemzar (having been on it 2 years ago) and we are now trying it with avastin. If not there are still a lot of drugs out there, so hang in there.
    Chris

[jane65]

Hi Terry,
When you have your scan and get the results, I'll be there to give you my support.

Chris had radiation, I believe maybe she'll post to you.

Hang in there my friend,
Hugs and love to you,
Jane

[JC145]

I was NED for disease, but had a high CA125 (over 100), so was put on tamoxifen.  It lowered my CA to 20 in 6 months then started to rise slowly .. still NED for disease.  It held things stable for almost 18 months.  I am back in heavy chemo at this time.  If you go on tamoxifen, I suggest taking 10 mg twice a day .. as opposed to the 20 mg once a day.  I had relatively light side effects .. mostly hot flashes doing the 10 mg twice a day.

Judy

[Hindat]

I had radiaton as part of my second line treatment. I had four nodules in my stomach.  I had it everyday for a month except on weekends.  I also had carbo and taxol at the same time.  When I was finished with treatment in Dec my ca 125 was 9.1.  It was 9.3 in Feb.  In April it was up to 34.6 so I started Tamoxifen and then had the test done again in May it was 177 so we did a ct scan and found that I have a hernia which he thinks was causing the rise in ca 125.  I did have some risidual stuff that showed up in the Pet scan done in Feb (which he didn't tell me about) but he said it was smaller so I guess the Tamoxifen is working.  I will be having surgery on the 23rd.  I am hoping that my next ca 125 will be lower after that.  I will let you know.  He did say that tamoxifen takes a few months for it to start working.  The radiaton wasn't too bad to take. I did get sick a couple of times but that was also due to the chemo being given on the same day I did radiation.  I like pet scans better then ct, it covers the whole body plus you don't have to drink that awful stuff.     I wish you luck.

Linda

[meganrogers]

http://www.ufscc.ufl.edu/Patient/content.aspx?section=ufscc&id=886

The above is from University of Florida Shands Cancer Center and tells you everything you want to know about Radiation Therapy. Radiation, if you have one tumor is extremely helpful in Ovarian Cancer, but it is rarely used because many times the cancer has spread and it is impossible to treat the entire stomach, liver, etc. You would have to treat each organ. Let's pray you have one tumor and they may be able to treat that and eleviate your symptoms and fears. Best of luck.