Xeloda and tumor markers

[Wildcat1]

Hey there!! I hope everyone has a great Mother’s Day!! I have a question/concern for those of you who are either on Xeloda or have been on it. I just had my 4th round of pills, 2 weeks on 1 week off 3000mg per day. Last month when I got my tumor markers they went down slightly ca25-27 went down 14 and ca15 went back to the normal range. Had a bone scan, bones are stable. Onc decided to push back CT to give me a little more time on the meds before checking my liver. I had my blood work and shots this week and my markers went up slightly. What has your experience with this drug been? I know tumor markers can sometimes spike and be unreliable but I’m sort of freaking out because this is my 3rd drug in less than a year.

[Iwasborntodothis]

Hey starting round 5 today and my tumor markers are trending dramatically down won’t get new bloodwork for a week or 2 so I hope it continues.

My doc doesn’t typically change meds for a slight fluctuation he waits for a trend. 🙏 hang in there.

Happy Mother’s Day!

[Lna21]

Hello Wildcat1 Just started my second cycle of Xeloda

After my first cycle I got lab and my tumor marker went up but my liver functions are back to normal (which was a huge relief)

Hopefully next month it will start to go down but my doctor said it is not uncommon that at the beginning of a new treatment the tumor marker go a little higher. I am convincing myself that because many cancerous cells are dying... I hate the tumor marker result it always brings me stress. 2 months ago it went from 600 to 2400 and now 2588.... I reached that point where it’s so high that I have decided not to care too much about it (easy to say, not that easy to do, isn’t it ?) how do you feel overall?

I personally feel way better except for the hand-feet syndrome, but my liver is way less painful, so I guess this is a good sign.

Hopefully your next lab result will give you relief.

Take care and have a great Mother’s Day!

Helen

[blms in reply to Lna21]

Hi Helen,

I was relieved to hear someone else had crazy high tumor markers. I am currently on my going into my third round of Taxol. I also no longer have liver pain. The nerve pain from the liver was bad And I am very happy to not have to deal with that anymore. I am also on Faslodex shots once a month. I will see my oncologist this coming Tuesday to see what she says about the

Upcoming scans. I’m not sure if I’ll get the CAT scan next week or next month but I’m hoping for next month. I had tremendous fluid from the cancer, ascites, but had to drain a month ago and it hasn’t come back yet. That’s actually a good sign that it has an increased quickly. So I’m assuming you had been through all these treatments before you went on it it’s a new medication? What do your AST and a LT an alkaline phosphate run?

[Lna21 in reply to blms]

Hello blms I sent you a private message

Have a wonderful day

[Wildcat1 in reply to Lna21]

Overall I feel fine. I never had any liver pain. Recently had an mri because my lower back was hurting so bad and my foot is numb. Onc thought maybe a tumor was in a nerve but it turns out it has nothing to do with my cancer I have a bulging disc so off to another dr. If it wasn’t for that I’d be fine.

I don’t have the hand/foot syndrome however I do have chemo nails and my fingertips are raw. All the skin around my nails is peeling and it’s painful. Cant find anything to relieve it. Oh well hopefully my upcoming scan will show my liver is stable as my bone scan shows they are stable. But who knows ...

Hope everything starts to turn around for you!!

[Wildcat1 in reply to Lna21]

My tumor markers are no where near yours. For the first 3 years my tumor markers didn’t show up on the blood work. They were always in the teens or 20s. Then last June they started to go up slowly.

Overall I feel fine. Never had any liver pain just back pain. Which is a bulging disc. Yeah another dr to see.

No hand/ foot per se but I have chemo nails and all of the skin at my fingertips and around the nails is peeling. It’s pretty painful. Haven’t found anything that relieves the pain yet.

I’m glad you are feeling better. Hopefully the tumor markers mean nothing and your scans are good.

[Cureforever in reply to Lna21]

Hi Helen,I found your post from some time ago. I started Xeloda two weeks ago and my liver enzymes (all three ) got elevated three times of the normal range. The doctor took me off Xeloda for the second week.

Please share your experience on f you can about this issue. What Mets do you have. I have wide spread bones and liver

Thank you

Marina

[Cureforever in reply to Lna21]

Hi Hellen again,I forgot to tell you that I also have tremendous stress when I am getting my markers back. They have been going up since the disease progressed, for 1.5 years.

I was diagnosed in 2019 The ibrance with exemestane worked for about a year and then I have been on 4 lines of treatment before I got Xeloda. I finished 2 weeks. I am scared to get the markers back

How are you doing now with the markers and liver enzymes. Where were you diagnosed and what are your markers now?

The good news is that many new drugs are in development. The most promising is ErSO that showed 99/100 % success in mice. You may want to read my posts and replies. I am following this drug developing very closely. It might be the cure or very effective treatment if proven successful in people

Good luck to you and all of us!!!!

Marina

[Lna21 in reply to Cureforever]

Hello Marina So after my first cycle (3000mg a day 2 weeks on and 1 week off) in April 2021 my tumor marker went up. The highest it had ever been 2588. Now it is at 76!!!

And about the liver functions I can’t really help you because mine were really bad when I started Xeloda (first time they were not in the normal range) but after the first cycle they went back to normal and it has been like that since when. However I know Xeloda can make them going up.

I have mets on my liver (biggest tumor is 7cm) and actually it decreased slightly (just got the results of the CT I had on Tuesday) and 1 metastasis on a vertebrae.

I hooe your tumor marker is going down.

Keep me posted please

Take care

Helen

[Cureforever in reply to Lna21]

Thank you so much Helen for sharing. I am also freaking out when my tumor markers clime up but I never knew that it shows dead cancer cells as well. I read it in other people responses. They have been climbing up for more than a year. You got a very good decrease. I am happy for you that yours are almost perfect now. Also it’s good that the liver tumor is decreasing in size. I got the first two weeks on Xeloda and The liver enzymes went up 4 times. You are helping me by saying that yours were also up after the first cycle of Xeloda. I hope they will go back to normal like yours. The doctor took me off for one more week. I am taking 2000 mg of Xeloda. I have wide spread bone Mets and new liver. Thank you again for sharing your experience. I have hope that it will go back to normal.

[Cureforever in reply to Lna21]

Hi Helen,My doctor took me off Xeloda for two weeks. She ordered to repeat the bloodwork today. Alt and AST went slightly down but ALP went up very high from 187 a week ago to 301 today. Do you remember what were your ALP after alkaline phosphates after the first cycle.?

Thank you very much

Best

Marina

[Red71]

You didn’t say how much your tumor markers went up. A slight variation up and down is pretty normal with lab tests.

As far as you fingers go, if they are really painful, try painting them with super glue. It really helps the pain! They seem to heal faster to because they aren’t being constantly irritated. Dermabond is something they use in the hospital...my daughter-in-law brought me some, but the super glue works just as well and you can buy it in the grocery store!

[Topood]

My tumor markers have been going down very very gradually...I’ve been on Xeloda 6 months now. Will have my next scan in June....I hope it’s still working! I don’t think a slight rise in markers is something to worry very much about...the doctors seem to not see markers as totally reliable informers of our condition!