Moving to Taxol after 3 months on CDK 4/6 Inhibitor - help!

[miconrad]

I am distraught and need stories of encouragement.

I started this February on Verzenio and Letrazole after 10 years of initial breast cancer diagnosis due to recurrence. In January we found I had bone and a few liver mets. We biopsied a liver met in January 2022 and it was the original cancer (ER+, HER2-, BRCA2 +) I had my first PET / CT yesterday and unfortunately the liver mets have grown and multiplied and I have more bone mets after only 3 months. My Oncologist would like to start me on taxol to get my disease under control quickly as the cancer is behaving more aggressive than it should. I am 48 years old, in good health etc.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Anyone with sucess stories? I don't know what to think - losing hope.

Sad in Seattle.

[FloridaNYgirl]

So sorry to hear the news you got, I imagine this was the reason for the increase in your marker numbers. I did some reading on Taxol and it does appear to be very effective. Will you be getting a weekly infusion? Also will Dr keep you on adjunct therapy as well?I wish you all the best and pray taxol will stop the beast!

xo

[miconrad in reply to FloridaNYgirl]

3 weeks on, 1 week off. Don't think I will be doing any adjunct therapy as it was clear letrozole and verzenio were not working. Since I am BRCA2 - we are saving the Parp inhibitor for later.

[FloridaNYgirl in reply to miconrad]

I pray you get good results from the taxol and it will bring your cancer under control. The unknown is very hard and often difficult to think positively. Try to start this new drug with confidence. We're here for you!

[Cureforever]

Hi I talked to one lady on another board. She said taxol cleared her Mets completely. She has been living with this bustard for five years. We all hope for new drugs and cure. Lots of research is going on. We are waiting for ErSo that is supposed to be a cure. Good luck

[AutumnLove in reply to Cureforever]

🙏🏼❤

[katss]

two things... the jab is known to do this... research on swisscows... see if this happened to you and two. chrisbeatcancer.com is. a great resource. sending many prayers.

[purplelikep]

I'm starting a version of taxol Friday (I'm 35). I was originally ER/PR+ and HER2- at stage 3 and once I was stage 4 we couldn't get a new biopsy so we treated it as if it was the same as before. I tried Verzenio which worked for maybe a month and then switched to Afinitor which has not worked as my liver mets grew. We biopsied my liver and found out my liver met is now HER2+. It was explained to me that HER2+ behaves much more aggressively so we are hoping that this new treatment with herceptin and perjeta will work well. I'm thinking the HER2+ maybe explains why I blew threw Verzenio and Afinitor with little positive response. Thinking of you! It's all very hard. I'm definitely sad to be losing my hair again and scared to think of neuropathy issues but I trust my doctor and I'm very ready to get started.

[PJBinMI]

Taxol is in a group of anti-cancer meds called Taxanes, and there are two others that I've heard of being used with us, Abraxane and Taxotere, so there are other options if you get severe side effects from the Taxol. I've not been on Taxol or any Taxane myself, but have known other women who were and whose cancer was well controlled on it. These meds have been around longer than I've had MBC (18 years) and seem to be the go to chemo for those of us with estrogen receptor positive MBC that needs to be treated aggressively when hormonal treatment isn't working and cancer is progressing, especially in places other than our bones. I hope it will work well for you and that you will be able to share your experience with it. Are you on a drug like Zometa or Xgeva for the bone mets?

[miconrad in reply to PJBinMI]

Yes, Zometa

[Missmaddie615]

Please don’t lose hope! I had a similar experience, cancer in my sternum, couple of lymph nodes and liver. I was on Ibrance/Faslodex as my 1st line of treatment for ER+/HER2-. After about 9 months, (though probably sooner) ibrance/faslodex stopped working and I had progression. My oncologist wanted me to go on IV chemo/immunotherapy, she said that would be the best option for me. I was shocked as I did not think that I should be going on IV chemo as a 2nd line of treatment. My oncologist really wanted to knock the cancer back. I was put on Abraxane (sister toTaxol) for the IV chemo and Keytruda for the immunotherapy. 2 weeks on, 1 week off. That was back on 7/2021. I have had 4 PET SCAN‘s since being on treatment, and in her notes on MyChart, she has stated that I am in remission! Success story, Praise be to God!!! May your treatment be successful and manageable -Blessings to you!

[miconrad in reply to Missmaddie615]

Amazing! What is your treatment now?

[Missmaddie615 in reply to miconrad]

After I finished my 6 cycles of chemo, (12 IV infusions, which took about four months), I am only on the immunotherapy, every six weeks, and I get a Zometa infusion every six months.

[miconrad in reply to Missmaddie615]

Are you triple negative? I thought that keytruda was only for that cancer type?

[Missmaddie615 in reply to miconrad]

No, not triple negative -I am ER+/HER2-, and you’re right, Keytruda is normally used for triple negative breast cancer. I had genomic testing done when I was first diagnosed with MBC and it was found that I have a high tumor mutational burden (TMB, numerous mutations -I’m in the 90th percentile, not the norm for breast cancer). Also, my PDL-1 is in the 50th percentile. Because of these, my oncologist felt that the IV chemo/immunotherapy would be the best option. Insurance did not want to cover this treatment because I don’t have triple negative breast cancer. My oncologist had to fight with the insurance company to get me on this treatment. I Thank the Lord she won that battle and Praise be to God this treatment is working!!!