Dr wants to start me on Taxol -one day a week while i do radiation. He says it will be a very low dose-mainly keep any possible microscopic cells "quiet" and it also helps breakdown cancer cells with radiation. I have had six rounds of cisplatin/etoposide with 80% shrinkage of tumors-one in lung and one in ovary. Ovary was removed so radiation is on lung. Not reading good things about Taxol-any personal knowledge and experience will be helpful.
Thanks
I have never hear of this with small cell. I had the cisplatin/etoposide with radiation at the same time. Are you having radiation after chemo treatment? How many treatments are you to have?
I'll be really interested in replies to this.
Julie
My husband had his 4th cycle of Taxol on Monday. After three cycles his scan showed a significant decrease in the number of tumors in his liver. Actually, he doesn't have a tumor in the lung, but does have a mass between his lungs. It shrunk on carboplatnum/vp16 (I used to think it was bp16, and doc told me bp was an oil company)
Side effects he has had is joint and muscle pain, and that has decreased with each cycle.
Good luck...
I did the cis/etop chemo first. No radiation was offered for two reasons: I had been in the hospital for a month with fluid in right lung and was very debilitated and it was a questionable ex-sclc so they don't usually do radiation. The only tumor they can "see" is in the lung. The right ovary was a question mark for all because it is very rare for sclc to settle in ovary (less than a dozen cases known) so it was decided to start chemo (same treatment for lung and ovarian) and biopsy the ovary after chemo to see what type of cancer it was. As I said, no evidence of cancer anywhere else, but because it was sclc in ovary the prevailing opinion is there must be microscopic particles not being seen. Of my three doctors-gynecologist ,who obviously removed ovary,is the only one who fully believes the cancer is limited to those two sites-liver , abdomen, left ovary, uterus, appendix all looked really clean to him. Radiation now 4 weeks-5 days a week with low dose of Taxol for the possible microscopic sclc we aren't seeing. Thanks Marge for input-that is the kind of pain I had with the Neulasta (which when talking to the dr about the taxol treatment I was asking if I would need those again-and I couldn't remember what it was called-all I could think of was Neutrogena!) shots-was worried about the allergic reaction that can happen with this also.
My Dad has had 3 rounds so far and is tolerating it well. No noticeable side effects he has said other than fatigue.
Stacie
Thanks for the reply. I had one round-no allergic reaction and I felt good all week.
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