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Deciding whether to go on abemaciclib (brand name Verzenio)
Hi everyone and thank you for my membership. I was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer and just finished all my treatments which included 20 cycles of chemo, 6 weeks of radiation every day and since October 22 anastrozole. During my last visit my oncologist wanted to put me on abemaciclib; however, I looked at the research and I don't seem to fit the targeted group. My last mammogram was good. It was approved by the FDA in October 2021. Any suggestions? I do have severe asthma.
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I'm trying to decide on verzenio also. My diagnosis is HER2 negative HR positive, 2 lymph nodes involved, Ki67 2%, oncotype 6 with 2% recurrence, tumor was 5.1 cm, I had a lumpectomy and re-excision to get clear margins. I just finished 30 rounds of radiation. I'm starting letrozole tomorrow. I am wondering if I really need abemaciclib too.
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1 ReactionI decided not to take it. Because they didn’t offer it to me in beginning so didn’t think I needed to take it now. I wanted quality of life and not have all those side effects.
I have been on anastolze for 2 years with mammogram and mri every 6 months. All scans have been no evidence. So that confirms my thoughts for me. No cancer seen so what are you killing off. This is my journey I’m taking. I’m 60 years young. And I’m pretty good health. Been losing weight which I think is helpful. Keep us posted on your progress. We are fighters
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1 ReactionMy Doc wants me to go on Verzenio +Fluvestrant injections. It seems there are various protoclols with Verzenio.
I had a mastectomy and chemo 32 years ago with my breast cancer at age 43. Now I have a "recurrence" of that within the chest wall. It's pretty inaccessible, so the Doc wants to use these 2 meds to shrink the tumor, & make it easier to remove later. I've already tried 4.5 months of Aromatase Inhibitors, but it just gave me really high blood pressure even with BP drugs. I don't like the sound of the potential side effects and am going to see a Cardiac Oncology Doc to keep an eye on my heart. I hope it works. You do have to be careful of infections. Maybe you've seen this, but here's a site where they discuss the many uses of Verzenio: https://verzenio.lilly.com/metastatic-breast-cancer/treatment/plus-fulvestrant#effectiveness
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1 ReactionI've decided not to take abemaciclib. Everything I know about my diagnosis in the pathology reports and the oncotype results show I'm low risk. I will be starting letrozole this week which is daunting itself. That one makes more sense for my situation though so I'll give it a chance. 🙏🤞
I didn’t not to take it either too many side effects and possibly of heart issue and infections along the way. I am anastrozole for 5-7 years mine was stage 2. Oncotype 20 and ki67 10. Which I believe is low risks. I was 59 at the time of breast cancer. I didn’t need chemo before my surgery mine was 3.4 with 1 lymph positive. Estrogen and progesterone are on the high end above 80 on the both. Had surgery and with reconstruction directly after my lump removal. Surgery went well with good margins. So no chemo for me.