Here's the latest:
Just 7 points from the "normal" range, dropped 70% in the last 4 1/2 months since starting Xeloda. As you can see, I haven't had numbers this good since 2014, before Faslodex started to fail.
Nice, right? I hope to have a lot of time to get used to this. Go, Xeloda, go (and by go, I mean stay)!
I just want to say that I appreciate your blog very much. My wife is in a similar situation. She was diagnosed with metastatic ER+ HER2- breast cancer about 6 months ago, at about your age, and we have a son less than 2 years old. The mets were only in her bones, fortunately. She was given Ibrance and letrozole as first line, following ovarian removal, and also monthly Xgeva injections. It is working so far- she is in partial remission. We have a fantastic medical oncologist at a great cancer center. Your blog helps me better understand what people in similar situations are going through, as well as what we may expect in the future. Thank you for putting your life experiences out there. I happen to also be a cancer researcher, so doing my job will hopefully help my wife and others in the future. From a medical and scientific perspective, the future of cancer treatment is very promising (dare I say if you're going to have cancer, this is a good time to have it, compared to even 10 years ago). But we still have a long way to go before anyone can be said "cured". Keep up the fight.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Anon! Hope things continue to go great for your wife! I have to agree that it is a pretty good time to have cancer (better not to ever have it, of course, but better now than previously), it seems like there are some amaizing things in the works. Please keep up the good work in your research, what a wonderful thing to be able to work on.
DeleteYippee!
ReplyDeleteElse can I say?
Thanks, Caroline! I think Yippee says it all--and it works for me as I'm still wandering around yipeeing, myself!
DeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI Just started ibrance and faslodex.
125mg. Does anyone have experience with combo. Does it cause hair loss?
I have BC x4. I've been a stage 1 no nodes until reccurrence 2 mos after TCH.
Skin mets locally. Then I was given Aromasin and Lupron after taking Arimadex and lupron.
Tumor makers shot up to 30 after rads and continued to climb to 60+. Pet revealed axilla nodes opposite side and pectoral region total 4. I never had nodes envolvement. Terribly saden. But grateful also.
Hi,
DeleteMy wife is on Ibrance and Femara. Femara is similar to Faslodex, but slightly difference mechanism. Ibrance says it may cause hair thinning not loss. But from my wife's experience it has not affected her hair at all for past 6 months. It is not unusual for tumor markers to go up after radiation, but then go down again on the treatment. For us, Ibrance plus Femara has worked very well. She is estrogen-positive, HER2-negative, stage 4 with bone metastases, diagnosed at stage 4. Tumor markers were down to normal levels in 4 months. But each person responds differently. I hope that helps.
I haven't been on them together, but I've been on each separately and my hair remained completely normal. I know I'm a few months late in replying, hope it's been going well for you!
DeleteKathryn - I've been following your blog since January and I am thrilled to the point of tears at how well the Xeloda seems to be working for you. As a husband of somebody who is also fighting MBC, I know that there is nothing more satisfying as seeing those numbers drop sharply. I hope that your cancer has a long and extremely difficult fight against this new regimen. You most certainly deserve it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, anon, I really appreciate your kind words! Hope things are going well for your wife, too, and remain that way for a good long time!
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