Avastin?

My father has been diagnosed with a GBM and had another reoccur 4 months post surgery.  He has ups and and downs and at night when I speak with him on the phone he seems "OK" whatever that means at this point.  At times he seems very confused saying the wrong things and other times seems to be good.  Has anyone experienced this?  I don't know what to expect anymore.  He got so sick from his first round of treatments and was excited for him to go on Avastin.  His doctor tells me that Avastin is not the miracle drug that once it is stopped the cancer comes back fast.  Anyone else being told this?

Hi Vic,

Many folks have been put on Avastin (including my hubby) and I've never heard anyone say that stopping it sets you back.  My hubby's last treatment was in 07/08 and he's still stable.  It's a good drug...not sure why it's getting a bad rap.  Take care and hang in there.

janni (wife of Steve gbm iv dx 11/07)

My dad is 3 yrs from dx and has been on avastin for two years now. His quality of life has improved so much while on avastin. He was on it 2x month for 15 months, and has now tapered to just once a month. I agree, the drug gets a bad rap. It is certainly worth giving it a shot! Best to you and your family.

Hi All,

My husband was diagnosed with stage IV GBM almost 6 years ago.  After 2 surgeries in frontal lobe and a stroke during the second surgery he is doing relatively well.  He had no memory after the surgeries and had to be taught how to do everything again.  Today he has no short term memory but after a lot of thearpy, the other parts of his memory have returned.  He also gets confused and  we don't leave him alone for more than an hour. He  did radiation for 35 days and temodar after that.  We then participated in another clinical that didn't work for my husband.  Sept 07 he went on avastin and irrinotecan.  The chemo almost killed him and their was very little quality of life so the Doctors at UCSF took him off chemo but kept him on the Avastin for 12 more months.  He has been stable with no recurrence for 22 months so far and still doing well.   We have had to deal with radiation affects (not to bad) but all and all I would say he is okay.  Different drugs work for different people. 

Good luck to you.

VWWLI

Hi Marcyanne,

Steve was on Avastin from 12/07 to 7/08 every two weeks.  He was also on CPT-11 as well.  He tolerated the Avastin very well, but got a bit more tired with the CPT-11.  He never, however, had the horrible side effects that everyone tells you about.

Just remember that fatigue is going to be a part of life for a while, but it won't last forever.

keep us posted on how you are,

janni