Hi. I was diagnosed with stage 4b cancer three and a half years ago. I started with five rounds of carboplatin/palitaxal (hair loss and a bad reaction to taxal), then surgery then a further two rounds of carboplatin only. Then the next scan was clear. Three months later I had slight progression, put on hormone tablets which had slight success then Keytruda and lenvatinib immunotherapy which made my cancer stable. Due to my kidneys not being keen on the lenvatinib I was taken off immunotherapy in January and now have slight progression. In the words of my oncologist, at my last scan I had "very little disease" They are now wanting to put me back on Carboplatin/ Palitaxal. I do not want palitaxal as it made me so ill the first time and I think they're using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Has anyone had any experience of carboplatin only and was it effective as a stand alone chemo. Thanks
Hello hs599
I understand why you are reluctant to have paclitaxel due to your previous experiences.
I had paclitaxel and carboplatin for endometrial cancer in 2022.
My paclitaxel was reduced due to side effects- mainly neuropathy. I still have neuropathy now.
They never suggested reducing the carboplatin.
However my consultant said to me that the carboplatin is like the cake and does the majority of the work and the paclitaxel is like the icing on the cake. Because of this she reduced the paclitaxel to 50% by the final cycle. Although I still ended up with permanent neuropathy- the other side effects did reduce after the first cycle.
Am not saying that you should or should not have the paclitaxel but it is definitely worth having a conversation with your consultant about what you want to go ahead with. Chemo was not easy but reducing the paclitaxel did make it more doable for me.
Hope this helps
Jane
