Hello ladeez.

[Zena41]

A close friend of mine has started her third line of chemo. After only two sessions her oncologist is saying that she is not strong enough for this regime (carbo / gemzar) because her bone marrow is not recovering quickly enough and they are suggesting stopping this treatment in favour of another. Previously she had Paclitaxel and carboplatin then she had Caelyx and carboplatin. She is really struggling to know what to do so she wanted me to ask you all what treatments had you been on and how effective were they etc. Thank you in advance of your responses xxx

[Flamingobeef18]

Hi

Sorry to hear your friend is having a hard time on chemo.

For what it is worth I had Carboplatin/ Taxol, then Carboplatin and then Caelyx and I am just about to start my 4 th line with weekly Taxol.

I too had a rough time with Carboplatin on its own as it caused me to have a serious heart attack and gave me diabetes. I too had to stop the Carboplatin after 3 treatments but that was two years ago and I recovered well.

Touch wood all my chemos have been successful. Although I have never achieved NED I am still around 5 years post diagnosis of Stage 4 Clear Cell so cannot complain.

Wishing your friend all the best

Juliax

[Zena41 in reply to Flamingobeef18]

Hello thank you for posting. Wow you have been through it. And I’m glad your on the right path now. Did you not react to chemo again ? This confuses me as I reacted first time with taxol and my onc said I will use again in the future...???

[Flamingobeef18 in reply to Zena41]

No problem.

Unfortunately chemo for me will always only be palliative and I was told this when I was diagnosed in 2014. The aim is to manage the cancer for as long as possible with surgery and when required a blast of chemo.

So I have reacted well to the lines of chemo I have had but because the cancer had already spread around my body by the time I was diagnosed a cure is not possible.

Also it seems that people react differently to different chemo. I suppose your Oncologist is happy with how you responded to Taxol so he is thinking if you reoccur it would be worth using it again.

Not sure if this is answering your question at all?

Juliax

[Neona in reply to Flamingobeef18]

In case it is of any use in the future I have stage 3c clear cell and have been on a trial for the drug AZD 6738 for 18 months and have been stable.

[Lorent]

Hi Zena like your friend I am also on 3rd line and on carbo/gem I am finding this regime hard, I have been in and out of hospital having blood & platelet transfusions, last week on 3rd cycle they reduced the gem by 25% and increased the carbo, but halfway through carbo I had a reaction so all stopped, this week I feel much better hopefully on Thursday I will receive day 8 gem, then I will have a break for the month of August as my son gets married on the 16th, hopefully they will try the carbo again.... I have had carbo/taxol 1st line then carbo/caylex 2nd line with very little problem and Ned on both, this one is pretty tough..... Sending hugs and prayers to you both

Loren x

[Zena41 in reply to Lorent]

Thank u x

[Zena41]

Her weight keeps dropping off , At least two kg per week and I am on TPN 4xs per week with each bag containing 1800 calories xx

[Elfed]

I’ve been through exactly the same chemo’s and had 2 lots so far of the carbo/gem and it’s been the hardest so far, I was worried they were going to stop mine as I’ve had pain in my left side where I could hardly walk, but saw oncologist yesterday and were trying steroids and pain killers, I’ve been told if this doesn’t work I’ll have to try trials, wasn’t told of any other chemo. I think as this is my third chemo since June 17 my body’s been a bit overloaded

[Michael212]

Hi Zena, I had an email message (which could have been generated by the Ovacome/Ovacare system) suggesting that I reply to your post.

My wife, Lynn, had caelyx as her second line chemo. Lynn had high grade serous ovarian cancer and responded very quickly to the initial chemo of carboplatin and paclitaxel, but had only a few months in remission. Because she had reacted badly to paclitaxil, and had relapsed so quickly, Lynn was given caelyx on its own. She found it hard to tolerate, and only had 3 doses before she was switched to carboplatin on its own.

Although caelyx did not do much for Lynn, we understood that there are people who do benefit from it, and I hope your friend is one of the lucky ones.

Lynn and I really appreciated the support this forum gave us, so I am taking this opportunity to say thank you to everyone, and to wish you all strength, good luck, and love in the battles ahead.

Michael

[BeeWild]

Hi Zena I’ve literally just finished 3rd line of cistplatin and gemcitabine so have managed to complete the course. Had scan on Monday and now awaiting results. My Ca125 has responded well so I’ve got everything crossed it’s worked ok. My neutrophils dropped after 1st round on this regime but I was given filgrastim injections to have after each chemo and this kept my WCC ok so I didn’t miss any chemos. Maybe your friend can ask about this? Hope this helps x

Bev xx

[Zena41 in reply to BeeWild]

Well done gal xx

[Maus123]

Hi Zena. What stage and type of OC does she suffer from, if you don't mind me asking?

My case is probably not relevant as I'm a borderline/low grade patient, but here goes:

I have only undergone one line of chemo (6x carb/tax), after recurrence, which hardly touched my ca125 (was 150ish before recurrence surgery, 100 after surgery, and thereabouts again after chemo).

But while on the subsequent maintenance treatment of Avastin and Letrozole (and low dose ASS, if that makes any difference), my marker slowly dropped to 69, over the course of 11 months.

If the standard chemo options aren't working for her, could she ask about trials maybe, or PARP etc?

But hopefully the next treatment will do the job. All the best. Maus