Connect
← Return to Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?
Discussion
Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: Nov 10, 2024 | Replies (171)Comment receiving replies
Hello from Canada.
I am on G/A regimen… since late Feb./23. 3 Fridays treated the skip a Friday… around fifteen treatments to date. Diagnosed in July I had been of Folfirinox since October but it 'wasn't doing its job' (increase to the tumour in head of pancreas) so the switch to G/A. After the last CT scan about 2 months ago I was told there was a slight decrease in size… with moe imaging diagnostics to come in late September. (no liver tissue in my case and no apparent spread). Here's hoping. I return to the chemo wheel tomorrow after a bit of a hiatus from treatment to an urology procedure to remove a stone from my ureter. Pardon the detail. Anyway, I am feeling quite well actually 'within the frame of chemo'… except for the neuropathy in finger tips and my toes and soles, variable appetite and energy levels, diminished eyesight, some leg swelling… and most difficult presently a left foot drop step. Hampers everything. Oh, hairless came immediately after starting G/A but to my surprise it is growing back this summer.
But I am active, and able ~ have even travelled some and generally 'I am making do' with the love and support of others'. It's on with chemo and patiently living with uncertainty… but life, and I will take it.
Last summer I was given 12 months to live with chemo (i was cast into a living grief fo a short life. I am 73) and only in mid-Sept. I was told I was borderline candidate for resection, if I took the harsher treatments of Folfirinox… A year later I still get to be with family and friends, and serve on committees, etc.
yes, we only have this moment and this day to make peace with it all, and soldier on… now there's a mixed metaphor. Best wishes to you on this journey. I hope this offers others a small ray of hope. R.
Replies to "Hello from Canada. I am on G/A regimen… since late Feb./23. 3 Fridays treated the skip..."
Hi @richardkotowich, how are you doing? How has this latest chemo treatment been after the brief hiatus?
What a great ray of hope your post is Your journey is somewhat similar to what I am experiencing! So hard to find others like me @ 73 with similar side effects, except it has gone to my fingertips. The bone marrow pain is bad at times and is coming closer to the treatments than before. I was given a sentence of 11 months and am still here 🙂 but I am not considered a candidate for any surgeries. Mine is also tail, some of the body then out to the adrenal gland and lungs. My CA 19-9 started at 450 and is now 16.9. It did go as low as 8 but I think my "arthritis" issues have driven it up those few points.
I am a retired Army Nurse so I loved your statement that "we only have this moment and this day to make peace with it all, and soldier on". Better to be on this journey than the alternative.
Connect
Good to hear you are doing well, and have a great attitude toward this! Glad to hear there's hope my hair might come back as well.
Just wondering if you had genetic testing, and if so, if it identified any specific mutations. My curiosity is whether G/A works better than Folfirinox in certain people, and if so, why.
In my case (with ATM mutation), I'm getting a much better response to G/A (with Cisplatin added) every 14 days.
Regarding the neuropathy:
Mine got pretty bad while on Folfirinox, but resolved about 6 months after I stopped. There were actually two odd aspects to it:
1) I was experiencing a severe shock in my calves, going from my feet upward through calf muscles, whenever I leaned my head forward (neck flexion) abruptly. It was similar to L'Hermitte's sign, but with different (than typical) limbs affected.
2) I also had a severe foot drop on the left side and inability to dorsiflex (lift toes off the ground), which may have been related to the chemo. It turns out that I had a habit of sitting in my office chair in a half cross-legged position: Outside of my left calf resting on my right femur at the kneecap. Electromyogram revealed reduced signal common to both feet, as expected from the neuropathy. It also revealed additional damage to my left peroneal nerve.
The latter damage was a surprise, because there had been no trauma to the area. But apparently the nerve was fragile and susceptible because of all the Folfirinox, and fell victim to the cumulative time spent sitting that way. It took a few months of conscious effort break that habit, but I was rewarded with that aspect of the neuropathy and foot drop disappearing.
I have no idea if something like that is related to your foot drop, but since it took a little out-of-the-box thinking (and a neurology exam) to resolve, I hope passing it along might be helpful to you or to someone out there.