For those of you who have tried this combo can you share your experiences? What are the side effects like? We really selfishly want to squeeze in a family vacation if Dan is feeling up to it. Dan is getting his port tomorrow and will start this combination on the 31st with a 66% chance of another drug as part of the trial I mentioned last week.
I don't know why I'm hedging on this drug protocol...but I'm not as confident as the others we've tried. I'm wondering if Trabectedin is a better option? Or maybe we are just at the point of treatment where we just try things and hope we are part of the very small percentage that it works on?
If Dan does another treatment he will not be eligible for the trial (you can only have 2 prior treatments post mets to remain eligible) So it makes logical sense to try this first I guess and then move to the Trabectedin if it is not successful but I just need a little reinforcement on this.
I was on Gemzar/Taxotere + Morab antibody with no success. The mets in my lungs continued to grow. The side affects weren't too bad. Fatigue but no nausea for me.
I am on Yondelis (trabectedin) now which is keeping the tumors stable. I have been on that for 8 cycles - since September. The side affects have beenfatigue and tiredness but not much nausea on this one either. Some heartburn and upset stomach but nothing too significant.
I went to Coachella during my off-week of one cycle. Energy level was certainly lower than it would be without doing chemo, but I survived. Everyone's experience is different, though.
I did six cycles of gemzar/taxotere. One week of gemzar, one week of gemzar and taxotere, and one week off.
Typically I would get chemo on tuesday, and feel fine until friday evening. I'd feel lousy on Saturday, and slightly better on Sunday, and then back to normal on Monday.
The day after taxotere I would get a neulasta shot.
If I were to do it again, I'd try a chemo cap. Not all of my hair came back.
Sorry you all are having to go through this. I hope whatever is decided, will be the best and Dan will have miraculous improvement. From my daughters experience with Gem/Tax, side effects nausea, fatigue, body aches and fever. It didn't stop the tumors growth after all she went through. Good luck!! Lynda
In August of 2011, my daughter was on a combination of this along with avastin. By December the doctors decided the Gemzar and Taxotere were not affective, but the avastin was. She stayed on Avastin until the following August.
We never did try Trabectedin though we had ideas about trying it. For us, we would have had to go to Mexico for the treatment (or possibly Canada, though it's harder to get admitted there as a US citizen). We had thought about it when her pazopanib (votrient) stopped working, but there was a new treatment emerging in Bethesda, MD that sounded more promising, but we never made it there as it was accross the country for us and my daughter had just gotten too weak. It involved Tcell therapy (used in other cancers, but being tested in sarcomas).
If your son's tumors are still small try pushing for radio frequency ablation. I only learned about that option when my daughters tumors were too large to be helped by it.
God bless you for what you are enduring. I know all too well what it is like. Just keep fighting!!!
My daughter tolerated Avastin very well. I don't recall any side-effects. We were of course warned about a variety of possible side-effects, but she experienced none of them. I believe it had the effect of holding her cancer at bay for about a year. I don't recall if there was ever any shrinkage, but there was no growth either.
I'm not sure if it's approved for use in synovial sarcoma. I think we were on a phase II trial. I think you should be able to find a trial that will pay for the medication. I do recall that it had been effective against synovial sarcoma in a few cases, so it is most definitely worth a try.
My fiancé just started this gem/tax. Did you end up doing it? He’s done all the ifos he can do and had massive growth of tumors on the Keytruda clinical trial.