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

Hi Chef,

Ill be having my second infusion on Thursday (I see you are having yours the same day).

It's hard for me to tell about side effects because I was really sick when I started Doxil. I do feel the hand and feet issues, but a little milder than with my previous treatment (Xeloda), now moisturizing does give me relief and "staying cool".

Did lose a few pounds, I feel mainly from fatigue, and a little nausea. Was so tired I would sip some soup or eat gelatine, etc. By the end of the round I'm feeling a lot better though.

Keep us posted. I learn so much from all of you. And it helps to know I'm not alone...

Chef! Good to hear that so far so good! As with other chemos, stay hydrated!

Same here, taking it easy (vegetating lol) even though I expect some side effects to hit in the next few days.

Keep us posted!!!

Not sure if anyone takes turmeric or curcumin but I read in Best Bird's MBC manual today it may inhibit the action of doxorubicin, the drug in Doxil. I stopped taking it as of today. I think I did know that when I was early stage and took Adriamycin but forgot since then.

I did the same thing JFL, at least I can still take Milk Thistle.

jfl, awesome about your hair growing back! Mine had started sprouting before I even stopped taxol, hoping to keep growing on doxil, but honestly just want the desired outcome plus qol. I have anemia to, do they offer you any treatment for that? Sometimes I wonder what’s causing what ya know? Like, I’m severely constipated and when I don’t have the fever/sweats thing going on that left side pain feels like it could be something simple like that, but if you saw me during the fever dealing with side pain you’d think I need an exorcism. Lol

Liwi, I had that same symptom on the bottom of my feet early on and ended up realizing it seemed to be mini blisters very deep below the skin's surface on the bottom of my feet. Although I did have a bout with extreme blistering between rounds 2-3 on the top and sides of my feet, the bottom of my feet never gave me much of a problem. I felt issues on the bottom of my feet but it wasn't bad. Again, my best advice would be to avoid any and all friction and heat on your feet 1 day before and 6 days after infusion and soak feet in ice at least nightly but possibly 2-3 times a day during that time. I haven't had any issues since round 3. I think the body adjusts and the healthy skin tissues build up a tolerance to the Doxil or the immune system learns to identify it more quickly and clear it out of the healthy skin tissues more effectively. Apparently, the cancer cells have only one way to clear Doxil while healthy tissues have 3 ways.

Chef, I haven't heard of d-dimer although I did just google it and see it is known to be linked to DVT or PE. Do you have any pain, pressure or swelling in your arms or legs, or trouble breathing? I had DVT in my subclavian and brachial veins a year before original cancer DX, due to the cancer, and the symptom in my case was that my arm suddenly felt like someone cinched a rubberband around the top and I had a weird pressure. After a few days, I started getting little red capillary breakage spots showing up on my chest between my shoulder bone and clavical bone. My arm also looked a tinge more red I compared my forearms to each other. The most common place for DVT is the legs and may present as pain, swelling and/or pressure in a certain area. Not trying to scare you and I hope this is nothing in your case and a false alarm but you should get it checked out immediately to confirm there are no issues. I finally went to the ER after 4-5 days with a doctor's note in hand to give to the ER staff from an urgent care clinic I just visited stating that I had suspected DVT and needed to be seen immediately. The triage nurse laughed it off, smirked at me, lifted my arm up and told me I was fine and had no reason to be seen urgently. After 14 hours of waiting, I was finally seen and the doctor said my clot had almost fully occluded by the time it was found (blocked off 100% of blood flow) which would have been very bad. Also, because I waited so long, I missed the window of opportunity to do a laser ablation to remove the clot, which must be done in the early stages. It is probably nothing in your case but better safe than sorry.

Ugh! Teacher I'm sorry about the anxiety! I feel the same way. My last two treatments have been a fail, Halaven and Xeloda. I'm close to you, 1 week after 2nd cycle. Plan to ask onc on Monday about scan. I do feel better, less coughing (my main issue are lung Mets right now), and overall fatigue is better.

Crossing fingers for all of us

Hi All,

Teachermom, would your MO order a tumor blood test as well as a white count test? My MO ordered both of these tests to happen every two weeks for the first three months of treatment. Her justification for the tests were we weren't using Nuelasta and she wanted to make sure that my white counts stayed high enough and she threw in the tumor count just to ease my (and her) anxiety.

My experience with Doxil has been very positive. In fact, it is the only drug that has worked for me. My tumor markers (which are accurate for me) started heading downwards after my first treatment.

Chef47, Nice to meet you! I am so sorry you are having to deal with these persistent fevers. That no one can sort this out is very disconcerting I am sure. So glad you are feeling better today.

JFL, Thank you so much for your wise and thorough discussions on these boards. And thank you for all the information and education you share with us all.

LIwi, Nice to meet you! I too had blisters on my feet during my first three rounds. In fact, I had so many different rashes over the first six months I felt a little nutsy-cuckoo. I had terrible, terrible hand foot syndrome with Xeloda so I was pretty prepared for hand-foot syndrome with this drug. Honestly, as JFL suggest, keeping your feet cool, and minimal pressure on your feet will help. I ice my feet while watching tv at night. I walk 4 miles each day and immediately ice my feet after my walks. I avoid my favorite foot massages and use Aquaphor with socks each night.

Gramen, Glad to hear that your coughing is less and you are feeling more energy. Fatigue is defintely the worst side effect I have one this drug. Crazy how, for me, the first two days after the infusion I am great even though I don't take anything but Kytrile with my "Koolaid" but gosh by day four I am really struggling. I get two walks in on days three through six but I am pretty wiped out until day 10 of the cycle.

I have enjoyed two lovely trips in the last six weeks: I spent a week in Telluride enjoying the film festival. The high altitude was a bit of a challenge. I used an oxygen bar every day which was soothing and refreshing and managed to get my walks in each days despite lots of movie watching and altitude over 8500k. This past week my cute hubby and I did a truck camping trip around Lake Superior. While our weather was blustery and the trees didn't have much color we managed hike to six different waterfalls and lighthouses. I had never been to the Uppper Pennisula of MIchigan and it was gorgeous. I keep trying to enjoy the days that are pain free and where I can enjoy the health I have left.

Today am blue with the news of Patty's death (here on BCO) as well as the loss of another friend here in MN.

Am preparing myself for the Pinktober onslaught.

Warm blessings to you all!

Kimberly

Has anyone experienced elevated platelets while on Doxil?

Mine are at 600!!! Will be asking my onc today, since nobody has said anything to me during g appts...

Ugh! Hope you feel better soon Kimberly!!!

Today has been rough around here too. Saw my onc, platelets are back to normal. He sent me for a thoracentesis, been getting plueral effusions drained since May...

But gosh. This time instead of relief I'm in so much pain! A different person did the procedure, I feel they left the vacuum in too long ...

Anyway, took some pain meds, and if not better by tomorrow,will be heading to the ER too...ugh!

Kimberly I am amazed at your 4 mile daily walks. I’ve been nervous about walking much after I started with the blistering. Actually at this point my hands are in worse shape than my feet. I think I didn’t ice them as much as the hands. For this email who have had this, how long does it last?

I hope you and Gramen feel better soon.

Hi All,

Well, no 16th cycle of Doxil for me tomorrow. Tumor markers are up and, more importantly liver enzymes are all out of normal ranges in the span of one month. My current MO is looking at Navelbine and my Boston MO is favoring Halaven. I am trying to figure out the best choice....

Sigh. PET scan and brain MRI getting scheduled. I knew this might coming but I am still bummed leaving the only drug that has worked for me since I was diagnosed with Stage 1 .

Any suggestions welcomed!

Kimberly

Gramen,

Thank you so much for your response and for sharing your experience with these two drugs. I do go to Dana Farber on a quarterly basis. Love my MO there.

Having the first drug that worked for me (diagnosed stage 4 within a year of finishing chemo) fail is a bit frightening. I hope we can come up with a plan soon! MRI and PET scans are on Friday morning so will check back in when I have the results.

Again, thank you so much for responding so quickly!

Warm blessings,

Kimberl