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treatment

hillbillygirl
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hey everyone, my new drug is femara daily and zometa back to monthly. the mets in my back are still going strong. from top of neck to end of tailbone. lots of them in lower back. also on some front and back ribs, and on skull. anyone had good results femara. also changed pain meds, Fentanyl patch 25 mg. every 72 hours and dilaudid hcl 25mg. every 6 hours for break thru pain. all information appreacitated. also the onc will be checking in 2 months if this is working for me

Explore topics in this discussion:

Cancer Fentanyl Avastin Aromasin Vicodin Breast cancer Morphine Oxycontin Menopause Pain

7 replies

Beachbabe

What were you on pre-Femara? I had a seven month run on Femara and was then switched to Aromasin...and still going strong since 12/07. Extensive bone mets as well.

I'm interested in your pain regime...do you find it allows you to lead a relatively 'normal' life? I'm on 60 mg of morphine 3x day with Vicodin for break through. It is working for me, but I always like to check in with other babes to see how someone else in similar flip flops is dealing with the pain.

Did you have your ovaries removed? I was at a talk on Monday and it was announced that women who were jet propelled into early menopause and then prescribed aromatase inhibitors have the most severe bone/joint pain. I often question how much pain is bone mets and how much pain is the med that is supposed to be treating the bone mets!

Good luck on your new drugs my friend!

ConditionalID

I'm now on Tamoxifen daily and Zometa monthly. I have met. breast cancer, with mets in my spine, r lung, and lymph. One brain tumor they think now is a schwannoma, not a met. We're watching it. Pain isn't too bad overall, controllable with Percoset.

Tumor marker numbers are going down, which I suppose is good, but I'm still way fatigued from 20 sessions of brain radiation on that tumor (which from the looks of it so far did absolutely nothing), and nine rounds of chemo before that -- I've dropped over 40 lbs and am just now getting any appetite back. I feel like I've been put through a meat grinder.

A lot of people here have it worse than I do, and I just want you to know I appreciate you and this site.

hillbillygirl

I was on Faslodex monthly inj. and avastin every 2 weeks iv, then zometa was changed to every other month. I have tried different pain meds none had kept me pain free. but on the ones i am now taking for 2 days now is seeming to help.I had a hyst. in 1996 so ok there. My pain has been unbearable in my back and left back ribs. onc also said if pain does not get better we would go for some more Rad. in the areas hurting me so bad.

JTM

I didn't realize how much the fentanyl patch helped me until I quit using it! I have mets throughout the spine, hips and right femur. Right now I'm on 20mg of Oxycontin twice daily with hydrocodone for breakthrough pain which seems to keep me comfortable. The pain is much worse at night when I'm trying to sleep. I've never used the Femera - right now I'm on Gemzar once a week with Aredia given with every fourth week. The tumor in my neck has decreased in size significantly and my markers are going down. And my wbc/rbc's are doing fine. Hope this helps! Good luck with your new treatment.

mom2acat

I was on Faslodex from April 2007 until June of this year; that is when I had a few new mets pop up, and my tumor marker went up too. Then I was switched to Femara, but after two months when my marker still kept going up, I was switched to Aromasin. My marker went down slightly last month, but my oncologist is waiting to see next months bloodwork before deciding if he's going to keep me on that or not.

I am on monthly Zometa also; I've been on that since April 2007.

I have an appointment this afternoon to see the radiation oncologist about new mets in my hip that area causing me pain.

ElizabethA

I've been on Femara since 2005. So far no problems. Zometa now every 6 months.

hillbillygirl

thanks so much for all your replies. i also searched Femara on this site and got a lot of information.

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