Ifosfamide/Cisplatin

H!  After a two year battle with ovarian carcinosarcoma my mother has developed a fairly rare mets to the umbilicus called a Sister Mary Joseph Nodule.   She had undergone two full rounds of Taxol/Carboplatin and approximately 6 cycles of Doxil.  Unfortunately the Doxil has not done what the docs had hoped so she was told today that on Monday she needs to check into the hospital for her first of 3 rounds of IV Ifosfamide/Cisplatin.  We were told that she will have to be in the hospital for 4-5 days every three weeks for this chemo.  She was also told that this it.........................there is no other chemo to turn to if this doesn't work.  Of course, the doctor told her he thinks this WILL work.  Can anyone give me the details on what I can expect for her in terms of side effects and when they might occur?  She was given 3 months to live, THAT WAS 24 MONTHS AGO and for this we are so thankful, but somehow it hasn't been long enough....we are just so devastated.............I'm a nurse, but I can't help my own Mother.

Thank you to everyone!

Gardenia (Julie)

On 2/20/2009 Gardenia wrote:

H!  After a two year battle with ovarian carcinosarcoma my mother has developed a fairly rare mets to the umbilicus called a Sister Mary Joseph Nodule.   She had undergone two full rounds of Taxol/Carboplatin and approximately 6 cycles of Doxil.  Unfortunately the Doxil has not done what the docs had hoped so she was told today that on Monday she needs to check into the hospital for her first of 3 rounds of IV Ifosfamide/Cisplatin.  We were told that she will have to be in the hospital for 4-5 days every three weeks for this chemo.  She was also told that this it.........................there is no other chemo to turn to if this doesn't work.  Of course, the doctor told her he thinks this WILL work.  Can anyone give me the details on what I can expect for her in terms of side effects and when they might occur?  She was given 3 months to live, THAT WAS 24 MONTHS AGO and for this we are so thankful, but somehow it hasn't been long enough....we are just so devastated.............I'm a nurse, but I can't help my own Mother.

Thank you to everyone!

Gardenia (Julie)

Julie,

      Cisplatin is the more powerful sister of carbonplatin. I would be glad they are putting her in the hospital for this. I don't know about the other drug.

Cisplatin will or can make you nausea, and you can get very dehydrated from it, FLUIDS are very important to get while on cisplatian. Being in hosptial they will keep her well hydrated and that is a good thing.

I have stage 3c ovarian cancer and had Cisplatin IP on my second day of first cycle of chemo. I got very sick, nausea, not wanting to eat, sleeping all the time, lost hair. By day 8 my third day of chemo, When getting treatment, IV taxol, they kept coming in to take my blood. My creatine levels where 3.8 and doc thought I was dehydrated. Long story short, I ended up in hosptial for 12 days getting hydrated, flushed out, turns out my kidneys failed partially due I had a reaction to cisplatin. Creatine even went up more while being hydrated, so I was not dehydrated just my kidneys did not like the drug. They changed me over to carbonplatin and taxol. End that Jan 08.  I am now on doxil, started that early dec. going on fourth treatment. MY ca125 went up after first treatment to 235 and jumped down to 118 after second treatment. Waiting to see what happens next.  Doxil takes three to four treatments sometimes two, to respond, and needs four weeks in between to be affective. I get it once a month.

I believe there are more drugs out there to use, but cisplatin is pretty strong stuff  so hopefully it will work. Hospital is a good place to be when getting that cisplatin, My prayers go out to your mom and keep up the faith.

           Nancy

Hi Nancy,

Thank you so much for sharing your Cisplatin story with me.  I'm so glad to hear that your CA-125 went down on the Doxil and hope it continues to do so.  My Mom really did well on Doxil as far as side effects - just that itchy rash on arms and abd. but certainly not unbearable.  I will tell you that today she is on Day #2 in the hospital with the Cisplatin/Ifosfamide chemo.  I was sooooooo glad that she made it through yesterday and the night with no real side effects.  Just extremely tired from all of the other meds along with it and had to urinate a ton.  But, as she said, being tired and urinating is easy stuff.

My Mother is 75 and has done extremely well - so we are thankful.  It sounds like you are, too!  I'm so glad!  I will put you on my prayer list!

Be well!

Julie

Hi Nancy,

Thank you so much for sharing your Cisplatin story with me.  I'm so glad to hear that your CA-125 went down on the Doxil and hope it continues to do so.  My Mom really did well on Doxil as far as side effects - just that itchy rash on arms and abd. but certainly not unbearable.  I will tell you that today she is on Day #2 in the hospital with the Cisplatin/Ifosfamide chemo.  I was sooooooo glad that she made it through yesterday and the night with no real side effects.  Just extremely tired from all of the other meds along with it and had to urinate a ton.  But, as she said, being tired and urinating is easy stuff.

My Mother is 75 and has done extremely well - so we are thankful.  It sounds like you are, too!  I'm so glad!  I will put you on my prayer list!

Be well!

Julie

Hi Julie,

It's Christiane from out in Oregon.  I'm sorry to hear about your mom's mets but I wanted to give you a little info about the cisplatin/ifex (ifosfomide) treatment.  My mother had that chemo combo back in the fall of 2007 and it dod a good job of knocking down her cancer for a while.  Ifosfomide is a very heavy hitting chemo drug which is why your mom has to be hospitalized for the treatments.  It is administered over a 4 day period along with Mesna to protect your mom's kidneys and bladder.  They will monitor her urine to make sure that she isn't having any problems in that department.  The ifosfomide is used primarily as an anti sarcoma drug.  The cisplatin is also very powerful and may cause neuropathy over time; it did with my mother although it subsided after a while.  You want to talk to a doctor now about possible supplements (L glutamine for example) your mother can start taking now to potentially prevent neuropathy or keep it from getting bad.  Have you thought about joining the yahoo group for ovarian and uterine carcinosarcoma?  This is a great source of information and support.  There are other women on the list who have taken this cehmo combination.  And anyway, this is not the last chemo cocktail available to your mother.  There are on-going clinical trials as well as other possibilities (Avastin, Doxyrubicin) to name a few.  Have they considered surgery? I hope that this helps and do stay in touch.

All the best,

Christiane