Cytoxan And Taxotere?

Hi All - Does anybody have insight to the chemo drugs Cytoxan and Taxotere? Everything I read seems to be negative. In a nutshell, my 46 y/o wife had stage 1, lymph node-negative breast cancer , with the tumor being under 2cm. The oncologist has informed us that she wants to administer this Cytoxan and Taxotere cocktail every three weeks for a total of 4 treatments...this along with the usual tamoxifen treatment and radiation. We're not sure what to do because my opinion is that this seems to be a bit extreme based on the circumstances...or maybe not.

Any opinions?

Thanks for the help.

That's exactly the same treament I had for the same amount of time!

I never got physically ill once.  They gave me steroids the day before, the day of, and the day after treatment.  Also, day 1 and 2 after treatment, I had to take something called Emend for nausea.

The key is drink lots of water.  Once the chemo treatment is done for that day, it doesn't need to stay in your body.  So drink GALLONS of water.  Also, eat a heathy diet and you won't get sick.

The only side effect I had to the Taxotere was temporary discoloration to my skin.  I also had a headache a few days after one of the treatments (one of the side effects of Cytoxan), but it could have just been sinuses.

She will start losing hair approx. 2 weeks after the first chemo treatment.  Get a couple of wigs in advance.  One of the wigs I ordered was from Paula Young (they have a website).  Good luck to you!

On 7/22/2008 Gator wrote:

Hi All - Does anybody have insight to the chemo drugs Cytoxan and Taxotere? Everything I read seems to be negative. In a nutshell, my 46 y/o wife had stage 1, lymph node-negative breast cancer , with the tumor being under 2cm. The oncologist has informed us that she wants to administer this Cytoxan and Taxotere cocktail every three weeks for a total of 4 treatments...this along with the usual tamoxifen treatment and radiation. We're not sure what to do because my opinion is that this seems to be a bit extreme based on the circumstances...or maybe not.

Any opinions?

Thanks for the help.

 Thanks everybody for the information...it helps. I guess the deal is, stage 1, grade 1 we were counting on Radiation and Tamoxifen only,  so when the Onco told us what her plan was regardless of the outcome of the Oncotype results, our jaws dropped. I immediately started looking online about these two drugs. I mean , even the Taxotere website (the makers of this drug!) didn't hardly have anything positive to say about the product that they create...not just things like hair loss, vomiting, diarrhea but things like ‘may cause life threatening side effects such as secondary cancers, infection, low blood cell counts, etc etc”…So we’re thinking, who the heck in their right mind would even want to even think about taking this drug?

Anyway we appreciate the comments and good luck to all….we’re all in this thing together.

On 7/24/2008 maggiew wrote:

 

On 7/22/2008 Gator wrote:

Hi All - Does anybody have insight to the chemo drugs Cytoxan and Taxotere? Everything I read seems to be negative. In a nutshell, my 46 y/o wife had stage 1, lymph node-negative breast cancer , with the tumor being under 2cm. The oncologist has informed us that she wants to administer this Cytoxan and Taxotere cocktail every three weeks for a total of 4 treatments...this along with the usual tamoxifen treatment and radiation. We're not sure what to do because my opinion is that this seems to be a bit extreme based on the circumstances...or maybe not.

Any opinions?

Thanks for the help.

I had the cytoxin and adryamyican and taxatore....I had estrogen positive, node negative 3 cm tumor. .Now mind you, EVERYONE responds different but there are similarties. So you NEED to talk to your doctor. I had a world class doctor. I did ok with the first two, they did what was called "dense dosing. which the body tends to acceptbe better. I did lose my hair around the third treatment.  Do get a wig and get the hair cut very short. Its a bit painful coming out so be careful brushing, the scalp gets very sensitive. I had a bad allergic reaction to the taxator, this happened  on the second dose.  It is quite aggressive but before you continue you should see the pathologist report to find out four things: if it is estrogen and or progesterone positive, Her2 and another that tells how aggressive the tumor is at growing. Talk with her and her doctor and understand WHY they want to treat her with just those two. My suggestion also is, if you want GET A SECOND OPINON. I did and I went with the second opinion..  I went to  CTCA in Zion, Illinois, was happy with the treatment even though I was allergic to the Taxatore. I liked the way the doctor answered ALL my questions such as yours. They wanted to treat mine as aggressively because test showed that the chance of reoccurrance in studies showed better results of the cancer not  coming back. Not a guareentee mind you, more like peace of mind. I am also going thru radiation therapy, the hardest part of this is my husband is a therapist and has the feelings of a porcupine!! I don't like the burns, my skin is very sensitive. You and your wife's best thing to do, is to sit down and talk with the doctor. If he/she doesn't take the time to talk and answer ALL your questions, then it's time for a second opinion. Good luck to you and your wife. PLEASE get peace of mind and get a second opinion. It does help.

 

 

 

 

On 7/22/2008 Gator wrote:

Hi All - Does anybody have insight to the chemo drugs Cytoxan and Taxotere? Everything I read seems to be negative. In a nutshell, my 46 y/o wife had stage 1, lymph node-negative breast cancer , with the tumor being under 2cm. The oncologist has informed us that she wants to administer this Cytoxan and Taxotere cocktail every three weeks for a total of 4 treatments...this along with the usual tamoxifen treatment and radiation. We're not sure what to do because my opinion is that this seems to be a bit extreme based on the circumstances...or maybe not.

Any opinions?

Thanks for the help.

Seems like very aggressive treatment to me.  Maybe things have changed?  Do they really give chemo for Stage 1, node-negative?  When I was diagnosed in 1998, I had a masectomy.  Radiation was a given, but the deciding factor of whether or not chemo was warranted was whether or not it was in the lymph nodes.

I would question it myself.  I am currently undergoing treatment for Stage IV metatstatic breast cancer - bones and liver.  I asked the dr. why I should assume chemo would work now, since it apparently didn't do anything 10 years ago, when they gave it to me as "insurance" - an adjuvant setting.  The answer was "Chemo works on fast-growing cells.  When we give it in an adjuvant setting, the cells are in a dormant stage - non-fast growing, therefore the chemo doesn't affect them."  OK, so why did they put me through all that? 

Also, a note to ALL cancer patients:  sugar feeds cancer.  Stop eating it.  The alternative practitioners have always told us that.  My regular onco dr., a professor, and researcher, at a world renowned cancer center, recently confirmed it is true.  Maybe they could have told me that 2 1/2 years ago when the cancer was found to have come back, so I could have cut out sugar then???????  What's up with that?

Hi All -

Just a follow up...my wife's Oncotype DX results came back and the good news is her score was only 13, which obviously puts her in the low category... So as result, we have decided to forgo the Cytoxan and Taxotere chemo treatments and stick with the Radiation and Tamoxifen only plan...due to situation (stage 1-grade 1, low score, etc) our Oncologist was fine and OK with this (which gives us some comfort) and supported our decision.

Thanks to all for the info and good luck to everyone...