Hello all
I hope everyone is coping well in the circumstances.
I am about to start my third chemo regime in 4 months and am struggling to hold onto hope and am wondering whether anybody has had their third line of treatment work for them when previous haven't?
I met with my oncologist yesterday to get CT scan results - the scan was taken after cycle 2 of Gemcarbo. i have mets in the neck lymph nodes, lungs and now it also seems the spine. I started Capecitabine in November but that wasn't working so they moved me onto Gemcarbo. The latest scan shows the lung spots have increased slightly by 2-3mm from 5mm. And there are now spots on the spine which she says sometimes happens in chemo - not necessarily new spots but the chemo reveals them.
The third chemo will be EC given every 3 weks with denosumab injections for the bones. The oncologist described the EC as tried and tested and i know from the main breast cancer forum this is given to many of the women with primary cancer. It is so difficult to hold onto hope when so far nothing has worked. i know that each cancer is individual and responds in unexpected ways.
I have a 11-year old son and every time i look at him my heart breaks. He is going to secondary school In September and right now my goal is to be here for that.
xx
Hi Fhgirl,
sorry you are having such a stressful time. I am surprised that you are being switched after only a couple of cycles but I guess the onc is the expert! EC seems to work well in early stage BC; there are also the taxols which many women with SBC seem to respond to. Being TN is scary, particularly after starting hormone positive, but there are several new drugs in the pipeline i believe. All our cancers are different and it is likely that your tumours will respond to the right drug; it’s just finding it!
My SBC is weakly positive, although my original diagnosis was strong Er+. It is also lobular which doesn’t like chemo. Paclitaxel stopped growth for a bit, but I am now on pablociclib which has been more effective despite the reduction in hormone sensitivity.
I hope the EC gets the beastie back under control 
mary
