Uro/Oncologist Appointment----New Course of Action

Hi Karen,

Chemo protocols vary widely, CMV was and still is quite common, many doctors skip the "A" in MVAC for those with heart problems. Lately there has been some discoveries about it's effectiveness in breast cancer. This drug used to be the first line treatment for breast cancer but has been discovered to actually only work for a very small subset who express certain proteins or not.

The C, Mand V carry enough kick on their own, so I would be confident in the choice.

Those were very pointed questions your husband doctor asked, and the answers were even better.

Wishing you and husband well,
Wendy

Hi Joe,

he already had 2 rounds of the cispatin/gemzar...no reactions... hopefully we will be that lucky with the next batch...I don't know about the 4th drug, but from what I have read so far tonight the CMV seems to have fairly good results. The Doctor sounded optimistic (for the first time actually) and asked us to trust his approach. He really made us feel confident, and that is very important. I just want his assistant to keep her mouth shut!!!She really is "Miss Gloom & Doom", never smiles, and has a monotone voice. I mean it, I wasn't depressed until she started talking yesterday...I am so glad I waited to hear the Dr. I feel more possitive tonight, The last time we had a real sit down with him, he was just talking about "a little more time", today we were actually hearing hope in his voice. He said "Lets Kill that cancer in the bone", then we will talk about surgery. Wow, I thought that option was off the table...He said that when he starts a patient off on the Cisplatin/Gemzar...when they have metatstatic bladder cancer, he doesn't know how they are going to do. He said to my husband. "How is the pain in your legs"? Answer: "gone" "How is the pain in your pelvis and back"? Answer: "gone" "How is the pain in your abdomen"? Answer: "gone" The only pain he has right now is in his shoulder. The doctor said that means the chemo is working, now lets go get it.... For now I am optimistic...I am realistic too, but we so needed some good news....

Thanks Everybody!,
Karen

This is good to hear but remember I posted how I got allergic to Gemzar rashes on my legs and shins very strange I was never allergic to anything except hitting the lottery and then they changed my chemo to MVAC

www.chemocare.com/bio/list_by_acronym.asp?acronym=MVAC

Now the doxorubicin is the generic name for adriamycin I was just curious why he is not getting this 4th drug. Up at Penn they said this was the usual chemo they used before Cisplatin & Gemzar came along. But the adriamycin is hard on the heart muscles I had to get a MUGA Scan to check the heart out. Anyway I was a little bummed about the Gemzar and getting my chemo changed but this MVAC worked it made me cancer free.

heartdisease.about.com/cs/otherriskfactors/l/blmuga.htm

I was at %53 they said for my age 52 this was great the test was no longer then 40 mins.

Also with every cycle I got one shot of Neulaste which keeps the (WBC) white blood count up. Unreal $2900 a shot I could not believe this. Of course they will not pay for a urine test but then they will pay for things like this they are ding bats.

www.drugs.com/neulasta.html

Joe

Karen,
Maybe this is the miracle we have been waiting for. Sounds like a plan.
I'll pray it works for him.. Ginger

Ok here is the results of the consult with Dr. Torti today. My husband will be starting the following regiment on Mon.

Cisplatin-methotrexate-vinblastine (CMV) for 3 cycles, and then another bone scan and CT Scan.

He will be hopitalized on Mon. for the treatment, as they want to keep him on IV fluids to prevent damage to the kidneys. He will then be receiving just one drug the following day, and then released on Tues. evening or Wed. morning. for the following two weeks he will receive just one drug. He will be hospitalized once per cycle when he gets the combo.

The Dr. thinks that he tolerated the Cisplatin/Gemzar so well that he wants to go after the cancer in the bones more aggressively. He thinks if he can control this and bring it back to just the Bladder he may have a chance for remission, and possibly surgery.

He also said that by switching the chemo drugs now, he can come back to the Cisplatin/Gemzar at a later date, and he would not have built up an immunity to it yet.

Has anyone received this combo? I would love some imput.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Karen