Latest messages for CancerCompass discussion http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,37267,0.htm Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Pesky - Yes, that sounds like what they have recommended for my father - thanks!To everyone else who replied - thank you as well!  It's nice to be able to hear from other people in our situation. nickinnewyork Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT Hi I am in Europe and have been diagnosed with PC age 43 stage 2B also. I have had 6 months of Gemzar plus cisplatin followed by chemo-radiotherapy (5FU used as sensitiser) for 2 months - s this the sort of regime you had in mind? Peskypooch Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT Hi Nick,     My husband Len (69) had his Whipple April 29.  It had clear margins and didn't spread, thank goodness, except for a small spot on one out of eight lymph nodes.  His oncologist is suggesting 5-6 weeks radiation accompanied by a chemo pump of 5FU/oxaliplatin(?) which he will wear.  Regular intervals of chemo will follow later.  It sounds a lot Joan's response.       Len is recovering nicely and should be starting the chemo/radiation in about two weeks.  He just had blood work (all normal) and is scheduled for a CAT tomorrow.  He has two oncologist appts next week (medical and radiation oncologists) that have to coordinate the treatment.  I hope this helps. Nancy J   nancyjpa Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT Hey Nick,Sorry to meet you on this journey.  However, you are lucky that your Dad was able to have the Whipple surgery.  Not nearly enough patients are diagnosed early enough to have surgery.Since you don't know the name of the chemo he will be having, there really isn't much I can say.  It is the current standard of care, when recovered from surgery, to have chemo called 5 FU concurrently with 5-6 weeks of radiation.  After several weeks off to recover, the patient then starts six months of Gemzar with 3 weeks on and 1 week off.  Often patients will have to forego treatment for a week or so if their WBC's are too low.  Patients also often take shots of Procrit, Neupogen or injections of vitamin B12; sometimes blood transfusions may also be required.There are some oncologists who treat with more aggressive chemo protocols; Dr. Fine @ Columbia in NYC started the GTX protocol (Gemzar, Tarceva, Xeloda) and has had very good results.  He is said to have kept patients alive for 5 years who were given 3 months by their prior docs.  There is a Dr. Bruckner in NYC who also uses very aggressive chemo protocols, many docs claim too aggressive.  M D Anderson as well as Columbia are excellent in treating pc; others are very good also but these 2, along with Johns Hopkins are probably the best. I visited your blog and see that you have visited the Johns Hopkins web site; did you also visit their online pc support board?  If not, you should since there is a lot of wisdom to be gotten there from both patients and caregivers.  Someone on that board has published all the different chemos that may be used in pc.I wish your Dad good luck in his continued recovery.Joan L Joan_l_3 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT My father (65 y/o) was diagnosed with PC.  He was staged a 2-B.  He will be starting his chemo in about 6 weeks.  One question I have is that they are apparently going to be trying out some new chemo regiment that has been in practice in Europe for a while but which has not been used in America much (if at all) to date.  He will be doing 6-months of chemo (sorry I don't know more about how often, which drugs, etc) and then probably some kind of radiation as well.  As you can see, I'm still pretty ignorant about all this.Has anyone heard about this new regiment?  I've been looking on the web for more info, but haven't found anything on it yet.  Thanks, and good luck to all!NiNYhttp://themolassesreport.blogspot.com nickinnewyork Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT