Anyone familiar with Navelbine?

[janiceowens1957]

Haven't posted for awhile. Husband who was inoperable with NSCL had chemo & radiation that failed in 2016. Has been on Opdivo for one year since June 2017. Test results yesterday showed 5 new areas and Opdivo was discontinued. He will begin Navelbine. I have read about it but sometimes it helps to hear from others and their life experiences. Please will someone let me know if they have any knowledge of this infusion. Oncologist told him to get his resources in order. Dr. spent a lot of time with us yesterday and was so kind. He has worked so hard with us in this fight. I thank you for anything you can share. We are just in shock over all the new areas. Other areas has grown so fast in just 5 months.

Thank you Kindly

Janice

[GailO]

Hi Janice, my experience with Navelbine was short. When I was first diagnosed, I had surgery and then 4 rounds of Cisplatin and navelbine. I remember that the navelbine gave me severe heartburn which was easily remedied with an OTC like Prilosec.

Has your husband had all the necessary molecular testing on his tumor? If not, that needs to be done ASAP. Keeping you in my thoughts. Gail

[janiceowens1957 in reply to GailO]

He had the testing. He has chest burning/and heart burn already so bad he can't hardly eat anymore. They have gave him Prilosec and a number of other meds prior without any relief. So hopefully this won't be one of the side effects to already add to this heartburn/chest burning. Were you able this tolerate this infusion long? From what I have read it is infused over minutes verses all the other chemo he had which was for hours. Our oncologist was honest with him and told him he did not know if he would be able to tolerate with all the symptoms he is already having. Dave wanted to try it though.

Thank you Kindly for answering.

[GailO in reply to janiceowens1957]

I had it after the Cisplatin was finished and then on its own the next week. I think that infusion took about 45 minutes. The very first time, it was a straight infusion into my arm. Back then the docs didn’t order a PICC or port, so it ended up burning the inside of my vein. I think it is called phlebitis. It hurt so much that I lost a lot of sleep, so I was prescribed Ambien (a godsend), and THEN a PICC was ordered. That was a huge relief. The last day of chemo, the nurse simply pulled it out.

I wonder if you talked with a pharmacist about the heartburn they could recommend something that might work. Best of luck!