Doxil, what can you tell me about this chemo treatment?

Kimberly. She’s pure sunshine! What a face!!!

My grandson comes in Monday night. Can’t wait. He now has an American passport too! My world traveler!

Babs

kachincolor,

I get an EKG every three months, and MO keeps an eye on the bloodwork. He tells me that certain signals would show up on the bloodwork that would alert him to trouble. He also asks pointed questions about SOB and palpitations, and has a look at the old ankles every time I go in there.

Short of an echo, those are pretty good cardiac oversight. I am paranoid about cardiac issues, as I am still obese, nd both my parents had heart trouble. They were lifetime smokers, so that didn't help.

My MO has discarded the notion of maximum dosage. His plan is to keep going until I progress, or start showing too many SEs. I'm with him, as I want to suck all the juice of of this drug. I'm six years in now, so I don't have a full quiver of chemo anymore.

Looks like I'm staying on Doxil after all. I met with my MO today. She wants me to stay on Doxil at least until after the Y90 on 4/6. Since its working on the liver mets she wants to bang the dickens out of the liver before we make any changes. Sounded reasonable to me so I agreed and had my infusion tonight. Plus, she said that the radiologist felt that what is going on in my lungs is more inflammatory in nature. Hope so!

Babs

Blainejennifer -- I didn't get traction from any AIs. I was stage 1b grade 3 ER positive, PR negative and HER 2 negative. Because of the grade (no node involvement) I was given Cytoxan and Taxotere. Started Femara immediately after whole breast radiation. 13 months later had such a serious tumor in my thigh that the doctor who did an emergency hip replacement didn't understand how my femur didn't shatter. He said it was basically jello. Major other bone mets and liver was covered. Did Xeloda with little success; then on to Faslodex and Ibrance which worked brilliantly for three months and then my tumor markers rose exponentially. No one is sure which one (or both) didn't work for me. But there is a new SERD in development. I am going to look into it more closely and will send info.

Just kind of sitting on egg shells this weekend waiting for my PET scan on Tuesday. I have enough bone pain around my body that despite dropping markers, and great liver enzymes something just doesn't feel right.

I am also headed to Boston to meet with a consulting MO at Dana Farber.

Good luck Babs!

Warm blessings,

Kimberly

Hi all. I have been following this thread for a while because my MO has mentioned Doxil would be a potential treatment for me. I am now moving off Abraxane and onto either Doxil or Halaven. I am looking for feedback on side effects to try to make my decision. It is great that Doxil doesn’t cause fullhair loss but are the other side effects tolerable? Also, if anyone has taken both Doxil and Halaven or had to choose between the two, I would be interested in your experience. Thank you!

Kimberly, congrats! That flute of bubbly is exactly what is in order. You definitely need to celebrate great scan results. Doxil has done you well. Thank you for the info. I didn't realize Doxil causes hand foot.

Does Doxil require a port and how long is the infusion (or is it an injection)? I have been on Abraxane for 6 months and receive the infusion in a protruding vein on the side of my forearm. I have no port right now.

JFL,

My experience with Doxil is similar to Babs and I don't have a port. My MO wanted me to get one, but I just wanted to be port free as long as I can. Half the women I know say getting one was the best decision they made and I have two close friends who have had nothing but trouble with theirs. Like everything on this journey--it's different for everyone.

I see you are ER positive and PR negative. Don't meet many with this combo!

Still dancing a bit enjoying my good scans. 😊

Warm blessings,

Kim

Hi gang! It is official. I start Doxil on Friday. So relieved to be off Abraxane due to neuropathy and done with the cold caps. I hope Doxil is an improvement. It seems weird that I am looking forward to starting Doxil! I hope this chemo does me right for a nice, long stretch

Hi everyone! I had my first Doxil treatment last thursday. They did it over a 2 hour time period. Only side effect I'm having from it is diarrhea. First time I have had that. I have been fighting breast cancer for 4 years this coming May. I am ER+ PR- HER/2-... I have been on 12 other chemo drugs during the last 4 years. None of them worked. I am getting Doxil every 4 weeks. So next infusion is April 12th. They will do the infusion in one hour time frame then... I want it at the slower rate, but don't know if they will listen to me. I don't want side effects. I currently have 7 tumors: 2 left collarbone area, 2 right collarbone area, 2 breastbone and 1 in the liver. They are all small in size so hoping Doxil will shrink them.

Blainejennifer, thanks for posting about your experience with Doxil. I found Xeloda very tolerable - in fact my "favorite" treatment to date. If this is more tolerable than that or even similar, I will be in good shape.

Goose, I agree, the nurses should have no pause slowing down your infusion. And I agree, with Blainejennifer, take it up the chain - the the head nurse supervisor of the infusion room, MO's nurse or the MO. Good luck with Doxil!

JFL,

I have spoken to my MO about the cardiotoxic nature of Doxil. He has told me that we will just watch and wait, as each individual will have a different tolerance level for the Doxil. So, I get EKGs every three months, and he keeps a beady eye on my blood work.

It appears that the "lifetime" dose is an older approach to Doxil, and that careful oversight is the newer method of handling the cardiac issues. I do know that I pester him like heck about the heart issues, as both my parents had heart trouble.

It also helps that, except for cancer, I am in reasonable health and mobility. I hope you have a grand time with Doxil.

BlaineJenner- Can you confirm you are now six years from metastasis diagnosis? But so far, no CDK4,6 inhibitor like Ibrance or Abemaciclib? And how long have you been on Doxil? thanks!

Update on my side effects to doxil... This week, I have had nausea and it has been 3 weeks this coming Thursday, since infusion. The decadron made me constipated for about 5 days then i swung to the diarrhea side of things and had to back off of the laxatives. This week also i have started to lose my appetite and I'm very fatigued. Will keep you informed.

I would have along list of drugs after my signature but I don't know how to do that anymore. It was a while ago that I joined here. So, if someone would tell me how do it, I can reconstruct my 4years in may, time line.

Nouzay,

The hand foot stuff can be limiting. I haven't had too much trouble with it on Doxil (unlike Xeloda, where I had to take breaks because my hands and feet peeled and ached).

Have you tried icing your hands and feet during treatment? I know this might work better for the taxanes, as they go to work immediately. Doxil, as I understand it, takes a while to shed its carrier and get to work, so icing during infusion might not be as effective.

I do find my feet don't get hot and burnt feeling if I go barefoot as much as I can. We keep the house cool, so this might have the effect of cooling my feet on a continual basis, reducing Doxil uptake in them.

You are awesome for doing this with a baby! There are days when I can't even take care of the dog and cat. Well, let me rephrase that. There are days when I don't feel like taking care of the pets, but I do it anyway because that's just what you do. You need to have medals pinned on you.

JFL- the baby will be 18 months on Friday! Yay! I love that I was granted 18 months to be with him and see him grow.. something I never even imagined would happen when I first laid eyes on him, a teeny premie that had to be taken out 6 weeks early due to my extensive mets and a broken femur!! It has been quite the journey!

Thank you Jennifer for your kind words!! You're so sweet:) True the baby does complicate things but you all make it look so easy to be an MBC patient .. I'm always in owe of you and the amount of research you all do to be on top of it!! Truly inspirational .. I wish I had your strength! Thanks for the tips with keeping the feet cool .. I'll try icing them during treatments,though I did notice the delayed side effects recurrence.. I had this horrible rash all over me only 7 days before my 2 nd dose, one would think if there's a reaction it would happen in the first few days?!?

My MO prescribed dexamethasone twice a day for a week for the hand foot stuff and said she'll probably decrease the Doxil dose next time .. I'm not sure how I feel about that! I don't want to compromise its effect so soon but then again I'm not even sure it's working.. tumor marker is still high?!? And steroids for a week!! I take one of those pills before the Doxil and I stay up for three days I'm not sure what I'll do with myself after having to take 14 of these pills !!