Re: Avastin, Xeloda,Cpt11

My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer with 1 lesion in the liver in 7/04. He had a colon resection, mediport and started chemo in 8/04. He had a liver resection in 10/04 then chemo through February 05. Pet scan 4/05 at which time the oncologist said he was cancer free. This oncologist "unexpectedly" resigned and in October another CT/Pet was done with 2 uptakes showing in the liver, one in each lobe. We were then told that this cancer was definately there in April and we have the reports that show it. So the new oncologist put my husband on Avastin, Xeloda and CPT11. He ended up in the hospital at Christmas because the Xeloda & CPT11 were way too strong for his system. He is now on a lower dose of these drugs and handling it really well. He is off of the Avastin at this time because he is going to have another liver resection/RFA (this was they can get both at the same time). The last ct scan showed significant decrease in size of both lesions. I have read different message boards and nearly everyone is reporting good results. The only thing "bad" I could say about this would be that he has to wait for 2 months after going off the Avastin to have surgery. I know everyone reacts differently. It has helped us hearing the pros and cons of different treatments and I thought I would tell his story and maybe we could help someone else.

I don't post much, but check in with the site nearly every day. It helps me to not feel so alone and has given me strength to help my husband get through this. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for sharing. Could you elaborate on what CPT11 is? My brother is currently taking Folfox6/Avastin.

How did your husband react to the treatment that put him in the hospital? My brother is not doing so hot after 4 treatments that I myself am wondering if a lower dose is in order.

What is an RFA?

cpt111 is Camptosar or irinotecan. It is part of FOLFIRI but not FOLFOX.

Thank you for your response. I have been gone for several days and just now read this. The first chemo my husband was on consisted of 5-FU (Florcil), oxioplatin (sp?)with 3 days on a pump that put the 5-FU into his system continually. He was real sensitive to the cold which is a side effect of the oxi. Other than that he had minimal side effects, some diahrrea and really tired. After they found it had returned they put him on this chemo. His hands and feet became blistered and very sore. Then his throat developed blisters and swelled some. It was so sore that he couldn't even drink water and certainly couldn't eat. As a result he became so dehydrated that his potassium level bottomed out and his heart started fluttering. Our new oncologist said that he was actually being over-dosed on the chemo. He cut it in half and kept my husband off of it for about six weeks, then put him on the lower dose and he didn't have any reaction to it, other than being tired. What kind of side effects does your brother have? We have learned (the hard way) to tell the oncologist at the first sign of side effects. We didn't want to be complaining about every little thing, but they told us we need to so they could maybe control them and they wouldn't get so bad. Please let me know how he is doing.

Sorry, I left off something. The CPT11 is comptosar in his case.

Hello Silversander,
I jast joined the message center and read your letter to Johna. So, now after several monthes of the treatment you could tell me your fillings and thouhts about it. I'm from NJ-USA, originaly from Ukraina (you can picked it up from my sentence stracture). I'd like to know if you got some side effect from Oxilaplatin and how do you cope with it. thanks, Yelena.

 

On 2/24/2006 Greatful wrote:

My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer with 1 lesion in the liver in 7/04. He had a colon resection, mediport and started chemo in 8/04. He had a liver resection in 10/04 then chemo through February 05. Pet scan 4/05 at which time the oncologist said he was cancer free. This oncologist "unexpectedly" resigned and in October another CT/Pet was done with 2 uptakes showing in the liver, one in each lobe. We were then told that this cancer was definately there in April and we have the reports that show it. So the new oncologist put my husband on Avastin, Xeloda and CPT11. He ended up in the hospital at Christmas because the Xeloda & CPT11 were way too strong for his system. He is now on a lower dose of these drugs and handling it really well. He is off of the Avastin at this time because he is going to have another liver resection/RFA (this was they can get both at the same time). The last ct scan showed significant decrease in size of both lesions. I have read different message boards and nearly everyone is reporting good results. The only thing "bad" I could say about this would be that he has to wait for 2 months after going off the Avastin to have surgery. I know everyone reacts differently. It has helped us hearing the pros and cons of different treatments and I thought I would tell his story and maybe we could help someone else. I don't post much, but check in with the site nearly every day. It helps me to not feel so alone and has given me strength to help my husband get through this. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Hi,

 I hope everything is going good with your husband?  they have found 3 leisons on my dad's liver after srugery and just put him on avastin and he has been on xloda.  they just added avastin.  I've read up on RFA and I think thay might be better and safer than avastin!  How did your husband do with the RFA?  Why did they choose avastin before deciding to do the RFA?

 

On 2/24/2006 Greatful wrote:

My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer with 1 lesion in the liver in 7/04. He had a colon resection, mediport and started chemo in 8/04. He had a liver resection in 10/04 then chemo through February 05. Pet scan 4/05 at which time the oncologist said he was cancer free. This oncologist "unexpectedly" resigned and in October another CT/Pet was done with 2 uptakes showing in the liver, one in each lobe. We were then told that this cancer was definately there in April and we have the reports that show it. So the new oncologist put my husband on Avastin, Xeloda and CPT11. He ended up in the hospital at Christmas because the Xeloda & CPT11 were way too strong for his system. He is now on a lower dose of these drugs and handling it really well. He is off of the Avastin at this time because he is going to have another liver resection/RFA (this was they can get both at the same time). The last ct scan showed significant decrease in size of both lesions. I have read different message boards and nearly everyone is reporting good results. The only thing "bad" I could say about this would be that he has to wait for 2 months after going off the Avastin to have surgery. I know everyone reacts differently. It has helped us hearing the pros and cons of different treatments and I thought I would tell his story and maybe we could help someone else. I don't post much, but check in with the site nearly every day. It helps me to not feel so alone and has given me strength to help my husband get through this. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

My friend has colon cancer, gone to the liver ( 5 small  lesions ) and the pet scan shows other area's. Avastin will give her more time...... I was thinking maybe xeloda would be good, i will ask the oncologist . Did your husband  did bad side - effects with the avastin and the xeloda ? How are things going ? Michelle 9 

 

On 8/1/2007 MICHELLE9 wrote:

 

On 2/24/2006 Greatful wrote:

My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer with 1 lesion in the liver in 7/04. He had a colon resection, mediport and started chemo in 8/04. He had a liver resection in 10/04 then chemo through February 05. Pet scan 4/05 at which time the oncologist said he was cancer free. This oncologist "unexpectedly" resigned and in October another CT/Pet was done with 2 uptakes showing in the liver, one in each lobe. We were then told that this cancer was definately there in April and we have the reports that show it. So the new oncologist put my husband on Avastin, Xeloda and CPT11. He ended up in the hospital at Christmas because the Xeloda & CPT11 were way too strong for his system. He is now on a lower dose of these drugs and handling it really well. He is off of the Avastin at this time because he is going to have another liver resection/RFA (this was they can get both at the same time). The last ct scan showed significant decrease in size of both lesions. I have read different message boards and nearly everyone is reporting good results. The only thing "bad" I could say about this would be that he has to wait for 2 months after going off the Avastin to have surgery. I know everyone reacts differently. It has helped us hearing the pros and cons of different treatments and I thought I would tell his story and maybe we could help someone else. I don't post much, but check in with the site nearly every day. It helps me to not feel so alone and has given me strength to help my husband get through this. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

 

My friend  was diagnosed with cancer in 3/06,a colon resection,port and started on 5/06 , chmo with folfox-4 .In may 2007 cat and pet showed 5 small lesions in liver. She is on avastin and folfox-6 . Xeloda might help my friend .