Xeloda

Suze35

Cross-posted from Chemo forum... 

I was wondering if anyone here has taken Xeloda for Stage III? I am TN, had a lot of disease left after surgery, and my onc is thinking outside the box. If I don't get into the clinical trial I'm shooting for (designed to try and decrease risk of mets), she wants me to do a low dose of Xeloda with Avastin, as it is a "novel" chemo for my cancer.

Anyone have success with this at Stage III? Thanks!

Faith316

I did.  I took AC x 4, 12 weekly Taxol with concurrent Herceptin and 30 rads tx for my initial dx of IDC.  (Had lumpectomy and axillary node dissection with 2/8 nodes malignant.) While in the midst of my rads and while still on Herceptin, I was dx with IBC.  I went to MD Anderson Cancer Center and my onc there stopped the Herceptin and switched me to 6 months of Xeloda along with Tykerb.  After one day of being on these two new drugs, I saw improvement in my IBC rash.  Everyone thought, sure, wishful thinking on my part.  But, I was right and within a month, the rash was totally gone and all my other IBC symptoms were much improved.  I also had a PET/CT a month after being on the 2 drugs which showed me to be NED.  I stopped the Xeloda after 6 months and had a mx and another axillary node dissection.  Pathology showed no remaining cancer.  Stayed on the Tykerb and am still on it for 22 months now.  Still NED.  I was stage IIB with my IDC, but stage III with my IBC.  So, to answer your question --- yes, I had success with Xeloda (and Tykerb) at stage III.  Good luck to you

Suze35

Faith, that is fantastic that you are still NED!  Thank you for sharing your experience.  It sounds like it worked well for you.

My last PET was on 4/4/11, and was (surprise!) clear, so my onc wants to throw everything at me to keep me that way.  If I end up on Xeloda, it is good to know that it can be very effective .