Carboplatin/Taxotere/herceptin, I am calling it quits..

formydaughter

rapsyqueen - I had chemo drugs removed from my treatment because they were too toxic for me (hospitalized with level 3-4 toxicity). For me, they first removed Perjeta. Then they changed out the type of taxane. Finally, they took out all taxanes and the carboplatin. This took me down to Herceptin alone, but only after a complete break to try to heal me enough to tolerate it. I was worried that I had not had enough treatment, but my oncologist said that it had to be enough for me, since I could tolerate no more. The other piece of helpful advice was that he posed the question as to why do they normally go with 6 rounds, or 4+4...because that it the way that they did it in whatever trial preceded it becoming the standard of care. He next asked - could more than that course of treatment or less than that course of treatment work? And answered - It's quite possible, but if there hasn't been a study on it, we don't have the definitive data for it. But that this does not mean that it is not effective. Since each person responds differently to treatments, variations from the norm take place all the time, particularly having to add in extra time to the schedule when a patient's body is not yet ready for the next round.

srdc2013

I quit too! Well more or less...I was on TCHP and it just destroyed me. I was wasting away from the diarrhea, the joint pain (which isn't gone yet almost 10 months later) and had hearing loss that left me almost needing hearing aids. I was terrified to continue and lose my hearing. So we stopped and I had surgery and since she got clean margins and it hadn't spread to nodes we agreed on no more chemo. I consulted with 4 different oncologists who all agreed and many of them said that they believe 4 can be enough when it responds and there is significant danger of doing more harm with no benefit. I'm glad you are at peace with your decision. The long term side effects of chemo are no joke. It took me a long time (and a lot of consults) to get there but I am convinced now! Best wishes for you.

raspysqueen

Thank you for the replies. I felt much better for round 3 without the carboplatin. One more round without it and for #5-6 I will see the actual oncologist instead of NP/PA so I can see how he thinks we should proceed. VioletKali, you are most definitely not alone.