Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?

I often wonder what the record is for treatments with Gemczar & Abraxane? I made it through 14 months of those chemos and it still seems effective. My CT is stable to improved as of last month. Never missed one chemo due to my CBC results; my chemistry panels have been within normal limits and my CA 19-9 went from 450.4 to 18.8. Down to 8 at one time but I think my arthritis and neuropathies may be reasons for it to vary.
We have talked about changing up my therapy but that was long ago and recently we discussed taking a break. I will see my oncologist on the 26th and we can now have a serious conversation about what is next.
I found that what helps with my neuropathy to my lower legs, ankles & feet is acupuncture. The one thing I need to say is that "reversing" the neuropathy is as bad or worse than getting them. Will let you know how that will work out. I tell myself it is good to feel my feet again & then maybe I will feel safe driving again 🙂

The post you read about the stage IV survivor doing well. Can you share her blog name?

You are blessed. My husband has not had good results with accupuncture.

Today I am going for my 40th gemcitabine & Abraxane treatment. I will see the oncologist prior to my chemo & hopefully something will change. I started out with on tx 2 weeks & off 1 week from July 22 until end of August 23 and now I am on one week on & one week off. I have had the Decadron before the chemo and the chemo dose reduced due to increased edema. I also get Aloxi through my port prior to chemo. Last CT seems really good so I am anxious to see what the plan going forward will be. Let you know. Chemo is very personal with one's response. I have been fortunate to have had amazing bloodwork the whole time; limited/rare nausea. I also have had all hairs lost, weight gain, fatigue and neuropathies to my feet & hands but that is nothing I won't be able to keep handling. Trying to keep a positive attitude & only ask for prayers from others.

I know this is a stupid question but is there any way to prevent getting neuropathy? I’ve only had 3 treatments so far and just panic at the thought of having that happen. I know, better than dying but if there’s any way to avoid it please help! Next infusion is Monday.

@scalettasandy That's not a stupid question at all. There are various studies out there suggesting compression and cooling MAY help.

Numerous solutions are available with socks/booties etc that have slots for ice packs, some that provide compression, and some that provide both.

Appropriate gloves might be harder to come by, but one study saw good results from compression alone, using two surgical gloves (one layered on top of another) one size too small on each hand. I've tried this, and it's a lot more enjoyable than icing.

The theory is that cold and compression constrict blood vessels, restricting blood flow. If you ice and compress while the worst chemicals (abraxane, platinum) are being infused and for a little while after, you avoid the strongest concentrations of those drugs being delivered to your periphery (hands and feet) and thus to the nerves in that area. It seems like elevation would help as well, but I haven't seen any literature on it.

A similar approach using cold caps during chemo has been somewhat effective at reducing hair loss.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7810270/
https://www.curetoday.com/view/cold-compression-may-prevent-chemo-induced-neuropathy

Thank you for taking the time to respond. It seems every time at try to investigate things that I hear that happens to pancreatic cancer patients the more panicked I become! I can’t sleep because it all is so darn scary and painful and I’m all alone here. I’m looking like a walking bald skeleton and to be honest can’t figure out how go on knowing some of the horrendous things coming! I was diagnosed in March and have done nothing but cry, panic , not sleep, can’t eat anything anymore unless I want to spend a couple hours in the bathroom. I just don’t know what to do. I’m sorry, I’m just at the end of my rope how scary this is

@scalettasandy
We have all been where you are. When I was diagnosed stage IV I had a busy real estate group, lots of volunteer activities, and tons of travel and fun times planned. It shook me to the core.
Then I knew I had a choice. I could choose joy in every day things or I could drown in “self”.
I chose joy but also to know and learn everything possible I could about my situation.
I looked at the survivor rate, which is a broad term as all cases are not the same. 12% was not encouraging-until I did the numbers! 12% is thousands of people! Why couldn’t I be one of them? Maybe I will or maybe I won’t, but I am 23 months into this and thriving. We are all different, but I still work and find joy in helping others. There is always someone among us that has a worse situation. Often I feel helpless to make a difference, but sometimes just being there for someone or writing a note does. It certainly helps me!
Sleep is healing! Focus with your doctor on some good sleep and ways to get protein. You can be a better you. If they aren’t helping go elsewhere!!
Xoxo

Some say cold mitts and feet wraps help. Maybe try acupuncture. I started way late after my neuropathy started. The Chinese acupuncturist I see says there is a lot of toxic build up in my feet and ankles so it will take a long time for it to work its way out of my system. Seems to be working well, but there is some pain as the neuropathy affected areas "wake up".

So do you get those on Amazon and lug a cooler to your chemo appointments and put the gloves and feet things on before they start chemo? I also can’t drive any longer to get to extra appointments like acupuncture. If I could get to one. What do you do google acupuncturists that can work to prevent neuropathy? I live in a tiny town so I doubt there’d be anyone reliable but maybe I could learn how to use Uber or something if we even have it here