Faslodex Girls

janicemarie3 - if the nurse stops for a few seconds every now and then while injecting the medicine, it helps with the pain.  One of the nurses massages the area and the other doesn't, and I don't think it makes any difference.  I try to keep the area stretched out by bending and moving regardless of how much it hurts to do so and that seems to help a lot in the long run.  I've tried heat sometimes and cold other times on the injection sites and haven't noticed a difference between them, but they both seem to help a little. 

Chickadee - I'm sorry to hear the Faslodex isn't working on all your mets.  I hope you get results with the next tx you try. 

Just wanted to check in and give an update.  First injection was Dec 14th then flew out to Spain the 16th.  Absolutely no problems!!!  Thank God!!!

I am scheduled for my next injection tomorrow.  So far all has been good.  I'm really hoping to get a good run out of the Faslodex since the Tamoxifen and Aromasin were short lived.

I go back to MDA for scans at the end of February.  Praying all is stable. 

Hope all had a wonderful Christmas and blessings for the New Year!!!

Linda

Shirely glad the Faslodex was better for you this time.  Didn't get mine quite a warm the last time and it DOES make a difference.

Any side effects from the Xgeva?   You home now?   We had one son and GD arrive today for Christmas - has been kind of hectic around here this week.  Christmas is spread out for us. 

Linda, glad that you were ok on your trip after your first Faslodex.  I get a headache within the first couple of hours and then a bit of nausea (not bad) for a few days.  I have the fatigue associated with it but overall, not bad.  Glad you had a good trip.  Your having scans again after being on it for 2 months - wow.  Oncologist told me we wouldn't know for 6 months if it was working and when I ask how often I would be having scans said every 4-6 months.  This is my first treatment, so like you, hoping I get a good run from it.

Linda, my onc did scans three months after being on Faslodex.  Now she's waiting four months.  I don't mind one bit!  I'm so tired of scans and it's such a long day when they're done.  I get my blood work done, then scans (CT and bone) and see the doctor for the results.  Many times my appointment starts at 9:30 AM and we don't get out of there until 6 PM.

Naniam, no side effects from Xgeva.  I did take Ibuprofen right after the injections.  

We had a horrible drive from Charlotte to Durham....it rained heavily all the way and was very windy.  My DH drove under the speed limit which he normally does not!  However, after my bloodwork and "treatment" the weather was beautiful for our drive home.

I got 2 years on Femara and Zometa, just started Faslodex and Xgeva in late October. I had no real side effects until this week. Got treatment on 12/23 and I have had really bad body aches, fatigue and lower back pain. Also, the injection site feels like it has a stinging feeling around it. My Sept. scans were clear but markers have jumped from 30's to 100 so dr. felt it was time for a change but said it could take 4-5 months to see results. Are these side effects normal??

Naniam, Same for me--these are my first meds since diagnosis so, I'm hoping and praying they work!

I met with my oncologist before my treatment on the 29th and we discussed side effects I had with my first doses of Faslodex and Zometa.  My husband reminded me how bad I felt after the Zometa (chills, fever, body aches, one whole day in bed) so, my onco said she could add a steroid med to the IV to prevent those symptoms.  Other than slight soreness from the injections, the Faslodex doesn't seem to bother me.

Anyhow, the side effects from the Zometa were almost non exsistent this time!  I was tired right after, had a low grade fever the next day and felt a little "flu-like" but, not nearly as rotten as the first time. 

I did not ask when I'd get my first scans.  I guess that'll be something I'll ask at my next treatment.

Happy New Year everyone!  Here's to 2012 being the year of kicking cancer to the curb!

Naniam - I go every 4 weeks, give or take a couple of days.  I would ask your onc's office if they realize that your next appt is scheduled for 5 wks.  My chemo nurses sometimes are just so busy they don't realize they picked the wrong wk. 

I agree with the 28 days.  That is what my onc says I need to do as well.

Thanks ladies - oncologist counted the first 3 injection dates himself.  Not sure if they are in tomorrow but will call this week to talk to nurse about getting it changed.  I was in the chemo area so didn't go to checkout and schedule my next appointment myself.  Think someone miscounted and if not, I'll argue about the number of days between treatment.  Didn't think that sounded right and am thankful I ask. 

Mary Ann, I am an hour from treatment so getting both Faslodex and Zometa at the same time is a plus; just one trip for both is a convenience for all of us.    I think just blocking estrogen from our bodies causes fatigue. 

I had been on estrogen alone for 30  years after removal of my ovaries - stopping estrogen, having chemo and rads just about put me under at my diagnosis in 2005.  Fatigue was horrible.    I know the fatigue I'm feeling now is related to blocking any remaining estrogen.  Something God intended for a good purpose, wayward cells use as a weapon to harm us. 

Mary Ann, As I said, stopping the estrogen after 30 years in 2005 and doing chemo and rads just about put me under.  I then tried the Femara but I am one of the women that just stopped. I could not sleep because of joint pain; stiff joints and fatigue.  I have no regrets as I ran and got on the floor to play with two very young granddaughters and we had so much fun - wouldn't have happened staying on the Femara.  

However, we found my mets 6 years and 3 months out - so I would have been off them for a bit over a year anyway.  Now I'm on Faslodex and have joint pain and fatigue - at least my granddaughters are older and the fun things we do now are different. 

I truly believe that my fatigue from any of the AI's (Faslodex included) is my body not being able to have the estrogen. You are doing some heavy duty work there also. I know that I ask for a medicine I had taken before for the fatigue this time and it helps for about half the day.  Now insurance doesn't cover it and it was very expensive so not sure about getting it again.  Someone on another board shared with me that she takes Ritalin for fatigue - that it works different in adults and that it is much cheaper and I may want to give that a try.  Ask your oncologist and see if he has suggestions for a med to help with fatigue.  I ask for Provigil - but as I said It was very expensive and I broke the tablets in half just to make them last longer.  I do think there are things they can do to help us with the fatigue

Mary Ann, have you been on Faslodex since April?  Have you had a scan since being diagnosed to see how the mets are responding? 

Hoping to see good results for you and warm wishes for a good year for you and your husband. Being raised on a farm, know the work you do is not easy. 

OK,  not much I can do about the appointment being at 5 weeks instead of 4.

They are closed on Jan. 16th - that is Martin Luther King day and that is why it is all on the 23rd.  I am going to be outside the parameters they give on Faslodex - think at the most it is 31 days and I'll be at 35 days.  

My oncologist only sees patients on Monday's- this is a teaching/research facility and only available in clinic the one day.  I sure pray this is ok  

Naniam - I'm sorry to hear that.  Being late one time probably won't matter.  I'm getting my injections on the 16th, as a matter of fact.  Assuming, of course, my tumor markers haven't gone up.  I guess we were on the same schedule.

Calico,  don't think I have been here long enough to know.  I'll try to look back a few pages and see I anything is posted on that.   This was an older thread that I found when I started Faslodex.  I'm sure it has happened to other people.

I don't mind telling you, being new and one not working and switching to another drug is mind boggling for me sometimes.  I've just heard from others that you try all the AI's, including Tamoxifen, before you move on to chemo. 

Good luck.  I'll look back and see if I can find anything for you.   

Hey ladies, looks like I need to join the Faslodex sorority. I recognize a lot of you from other threads, so that makes me feel more at home here right away. Glad you're all here... well actually I'm not glad any of us are here... but you know what I mean.

I'm scheduled for my first injections tomorrow morning at 8AM.  Also just started Xgeva on Tuesday and felt like I had the flu for a day or two but it was definitely doable.

My bone mets were stable for over a year on Femara alone, but scan reports just showed I have two spots starting to bloom a bit.  I have small spots in every single vertebral body, top to bottom, and in most of my pelvic bones as well. I've always been the gal who did things up big or not at all, so if I was going to get bone mets of course I would get them in every vertebra... :-P

My onc is keeping me on Femara while adding the Faslodex.  She said this is because of some positive Phase III trial results presented at ASCO last month about using the two in combination for women who a) have had progression on Femara alone and b) have never taken Tamoxifen. Whatever works... sign me up. 

Anybody else taking both Faslodex and Femara? 

Anything I need to know for tomorrow morning?  Should I take Advil before going?  Does anyone know if it helps to take a shower or a walk -- or anything else -- afterward?

lulubee,

I was on Aromasin and Faslodex together [based on a since discounted study] for 14 months. I have dropped the aromasin since I wanted to discover if my recently dx'ed carpal tunnel was due to the side effects of this particular drug. I had been on aromasin for just 6 years at that point. Interesting that there is yet a new study out. Will have to look that one up.

*susan*