Bio-Chemo out of favor

Hi Julie,

Here is an link to a incredible woman who has done bio-chemo,

perhaps you may want to contact her for more info?

Best wishes to you and your husband!

Best Wishes,

Gene

see:  http://melanomamom.blogspot.com/

Hi Julie,

Here is an link to a incredible woman who has done bio-chemo,

perhaps you may want to contact her for more info?

Best wishes to you and your husband!

Best Wishes,

Gene

see:  http://melanomamom.blogspot.com/

Hi Julie,

Here is an link to a incredible woman who has done bio-chemo,

perhaps you may want to contact her for more info?

Best wishes to you and your husband!

Best Wishes,

Gene

see:  http://melanomamom.blogspot.com/

Biochemo is regularly done at MD Anderson, and I am in my husband’s hospital room right now as he finishes his last day of biochemo for this cycle. You need trained nurses and doctors who understand biochemo and all the side effects to administer it correctly. MD Anderson has a whole floor of patient rooms that are just for biochemo or high dose IL2. My husband’s side effects have been very well managed and so far so good. Will it help him, only time will tell, but since his tumors were growing fast, we decided against yervoy at this time, hoping biochemo can slow things down! Some people on this floor have had success with tumor reduction, but it’s like anything else with melanoma, no guarantees! My husband is Stage IV so we decided to take the risk! Valerie (Phil’s wife)

Biochemo is regularly done at MD Anderson, and I am in my husband’s hospital room right now as he finishes his last day of biochemo for this cycle. You need trained nurses and doctors who understand biochemo and all the side effects to administer it correctly. MD Anderson has a whole floor of patient rooms that are just for biochemo or high dose IL2. My husband’s side effects have been very well managed and so far so good. Will it help him, only time will tell, but since his tumors were growing fast, we decided against yervoy at this time, hoping biochemo can slow things down! Some people on this floor have had success with tumor reduction, but it’s like anything else with melanoma, no guarantees! My husband is Stage IV so we decided to take the risk! Valerie (Phil’s wife)

Biochemo is regularly done at MD Anderson, and I am in my husband’s hospital room right now as he finishes his last day of biochemo for this cycle. You need trained nurses and doctors who understand biochemo and all the side effects to administer it correctly. MD Anderson has a whole floor of patient rooms that are just for biochemo or high dose IL2. My husband’s side effects have been very well managed and so far so good. Will it help him, only time will tell, but since his tumors were growing fast, we decided against yervoy at this time, hoping biochemo can slow things down! Some people on this floor have had success with tumor reduction, but it’s like anything else with melanoma, no guarantees! My husband is Stage IV so we decided to take the risk! Valerie (Phil’s wife)

Hi Julie,

I did bio-chemo over 5 years ago in a clinical trial at Beth Israel in Boston. The trial compared bio-chemo vs the standard 1 year interferon treatment for stage 3 patients as an adjuvant therapy. The trial closed a few years back (I'm not sure of actual close date).

Bio-chemo is very toxic and expensive. From what I have gathered, there was no real difference statistically in survival. I have been NED for over 5 years now. I'm not sure if it was due to bio-chemo or if I would be NED without treatment…… Having said that, I am glad I did the treatment and would do it  again if I had to.

please contact me if you'd like more info on my experiences

Thanks,

Kevin

[email protected]

Hi Julie,

I did bio-chemo over 5 years ago in a clinical trial at Beth Israel in Boston. The trial compared bio-chemo vs the standard 1 year interferon treatment for stage 3 patients as an adjuvant therapy. The trial closed a few years back (I'm not sure of actual close date).

Bio-chemo is very toxic and expensive. From what I have gathered, there was no real difference statistically in survival. I have been NED for over 5 years now. I'm not sure if it was due to bio-chemo or if I would be NED without treatment…… Having said that, I am glad I did the treatment and would do it  again if I had to.

please contact me if you'd like more info on my experiences

Thanks,

Kevin

[email protected]

Hi Julie,

I did bio-chemo over 5 years ago in a clinical trial at Beth Israel in Boston. The trial compared bio-chemo vs the standard 1 year interferon treatment for stage 3 patients as an adjuvant therapy. The trial closed a few years back (I'm not sure of actual close date).

Bio-chemo is very toxic and expensive. From what I have gathered, there was no real difference statistically in survival. I have been NED for over 5 years now. I'm not sure if it was due to bio-chemo or if I would be NED without treatment…… Having said that, I am glad I did the treatment and would do it  again if I had to.

please contact me if you'd like more info on my experiences

Thanks,

Kevin

[email protected]

Hi Julie, I did biochemo in 2003 at the University of Colorado Cancer Center after a Stage IIIc diagnosis (14 malignant nodes removed) and I'm healthy and NED.  Like M.D. Anderson, UCCC is still doing biochemo because the docs there are convinced they are seeing significantly better results than with interferon alone.  UCCC was part of a multi-center study of biochemo that resulted in a paper being published in '06 or '07.  (If you google "Karl Lewis M.D. and biochemotherapy", you'll find a link to the article.)  It's rough stuff, but I'd do it again.  I had a very experienced team of doctors and nurses who knew how to manage the side effects, and was pretty heavily sedated during the hospital stays– probably a rougher time on my wife than me.  And 8 years later, they're probably better at managing the toxicity of the treatment than they were in 2003.

Best wishes to you.

Rich

http://www.hotelmelanoma.blogspot.com

Hi Julie, I did biochemo in 2003 at the University of Colorado Cancer Center after a Stage IIIc diagnosis (14 malignant nodes removed) and I'm healthy and NED.  Like M.D. Anderson, UCCC is still doing biochemo because the docs there are convinced they are seeing significantly better results than with interferon alone.  UCCC was part of a multi-center study of biochemo that resulted in a paper being published in '06 or '07.  (If you google "Karl Lewis M.D. and biochemotherapy", you'll find a link to the article.)  It's rough stuff, but I'd do it again.  I had a very experienced team of doctors and nurses who knew how to manage the side effects, and was pretty heavily sedated during the hospital stays– probably a rougher time on my wife than me.  And 8 years later, they're probably better at managing the toxicity of the treatment than they were in 2003.

Best wishes to you.

Rich

http://www.hotelmelanoma.blogspot.com

Hi Julie, I did biochemo in 2003 at the University of Colorado Cancer Center after a Stage IIIc diagnosis (14 malignant nodes removed) and I'm healthy and NED.  Like M.D. Anderson, UCCC is still doing biochemo because the docs there are convinced they are seeing significantly better results than with interferon alone.  UCCC was part of a multi-center study of biochemo that resulted in a paper being published in '06 or '07.  (If you google "Karl Lewis M.D. and biochemotherapy", you'll find a link to the article.)  It's rough stuff, but I'd do it again.  I had a very experienced team of doctors and nurses who knew how to manage the side effects, and was pretty heavily sedated during the hospital stays– probably a rougher time on my wife than me.  And 8 years later, they're probably better at managing the toxicity of the treatment than they were in 2003.

Best wishes to you.

Rich

http://www.hotelmelanoma.blogspot.com

Hey Julie,

I don't have much to add other than to tell you that I have also recently joined the IIIc club and have received the same opinion about bio-chem from the oncologists I have spoken with.  Most say that they wouldn't go that route due to the toxicity.  I personally wouldn't care about the toxicity if I had proof that it could make a difference.  Thanks for starting this thread.  I've been wondering the same thing.

 

Brian

Hey Julie,

I don't have much to add other than to tell you that I have also recently joined the IIIc club and have received the same opinion about bio-chem from the oncologists I have spoken with.  Most say that they wouldn't go that route due to the toxicity.  I personally wouldn't care about the toxicity if I had proof that it could make a difference.  Thanks for starting this thread.  I've been wondering the same thing.

 

Brian

Hey Julie,

I don't have much to add other than to tell you that I have also recently joined the IIIc club and have received the same opinion about bio-chem from the oncologists I have spoken with.  Most say that they wouldn't go that route due to the toxicity.  I personally wouldn't care about the toxicity if I had proof that it could make a difference.  Thanks for starting this thread.  I've been wondering the same thing.

 

Brian

Here's a link to an article on a study of biochemo for Stage III patients:

 

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/24/19/3157.full 

 

Rich

 

Here's a link to an article on a study of biochemo for Stage III patients:

 

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/24/19/3157.full 

 

Rich

 

Here's a link to an article on a study of biochemo for Stage III patients:

 

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/24/19/3157.full 

 

Rich

 

Hi Julie,

I was not at stage III, but stage IV. I did 18 months of Biochemo and IL-2. That was the ONLY treatment option I was given. It saved my life! I was diagnosed back in November of 2006 and I was only given 6 to 9 months to live if I did not choose to do this. As you have read from the other posts, it's extremely toxic. I was 46 and in otherwise good health. I would do this again in a heartbeat! Please keep us posted.

Suzanne

Hi Julie,

I was not at stage III, but stage IV. I did 18 months of Biochemo and IL-2. That was the ONLY treatment option I was given. It saved my life! I was diagnosed back in November of 2006 and I was only given 6 to 9 months to live if I did not choose to do this. As you have read from the other posts, it's extremely toxic. I was 46 and in otherwise good health. I would do this again in a heartbeat! Please keep us posted.

Suzanne

Hi Julie,

I was not at stage III, but stage IV. I did 18 months of Biochemo and IL-2. That was the ONLY treatment option I was given. It saved my life! I was diagnosed back in November of 2006 and I was only given 6 to 9 months to live if I did not choose to do this. As you have read from the other posts, it's extremely toxic. I was 46 and in otherwise good health. I would do this again in a heartbeat! Please keep us posted.

Suzanne

Hi Julie,

I was not at stage III, but stage IV. I did 18 months of Biochemo and IL-2. That was the ONLY treatment option I was given. It saved my life! I was diagnosed back in November of 2006 and I was only given 6 to 9 months to live if I did not choose to do this. As you have read from the other posts, it's extremely toxic. I was 46 and in otherwise good health. I would do this again in a heartbeat! Please keep us posted.

Suzanne

Hi Julie,

I was not at stage III, but stage IV. I did 18 months of Biochemo and IL-2. That was the ONLY treatment option I was given. It saved my life! I was diagnosed back in November of 2006 and I was only given 6 to 9 months to live if I did not choose to do this. As you have read from the other posts, it's extremely toxic. I was 46 and in otherwise good health. I would do this again in a heartbeat! Please keep us posted.

Suzanne

Hi Julie,

I was not at stage III, but stage IV. I did 18 months of Biochemo and IL-2. That was the ONLY treatment option I was given. It saved my life! I was diagnosed back in November of 2006 and I was only given 6 to 9 months to live if I did not choose to do this. As you have read from the other posts, it's extremely toxic. I was 46 and in otherwise good health. I would do this again in a heartbeat! Please keep us posted.

Suzanne

I don't even remember when I did biochemo, it was a while back.  If you look through my patnet, you will see it didn't eliminate melanoma 100% but it did stop it in it's tracks.  Sloan Kettering no longer does biochemo which doesn't mean it doesn't work.  I was on the bone marrow floor for a couple of months, the key thing is to research the protocol and find somebody who has done a lot of it.  The right place and protocol really will make every little bit count.  Aweful to go through, but if I had to do it all over again, I would not hesitate.   Surgery is always the best strategy for removable tumors.  Biochemo was my treatment of choice because things became systemic.  Should your husband progress, it is always good to have options on the table.  I took the same approach as KarenNY, to tough out the hard treatments early on(before my body became too weak to take on the other ones)

In the meantime, I would look into a trial that includes melanoma vaccines rather than interferon.  They haven't been proven to benefit anybody, but I definitely believe my long term survival may be related to my immune system being primed by a melanoma vaccine, and then getting systemic immunotherapy.

I don't even remember when I did biochemo, it was a while back.  If you look through my patnet, you will see it didn't eliminate melanoma 100% but it did stop it in it's tracks.  Sloan Kettering no longer does biochemo which doesn't mean it doesn't work.  I was on the bone marrow floor for a couple of months, the key thing is to research the protocol and find somebody who has done a lot of it.  The right place and protocol really will make every little bit count.  Aweful to go through, but if I had to do it all over again, I would not hesitate.   Surgery is always the best strategy for removable tumors.  Biochemo was my treatment of choice because things became systemic.  Should your husband progress, it is always good to have options on the table.  I took the same approach as KarenNY, to tough out the hard treatments early on(before my body became too weak to take on the other ones)

In the meantime, I would look into a trial that includes melanoma vaccines rather than interferon.  They haven't been proven to benefit anybody, but I definitely believe my long term survival may be related to my immune system being primed by a melanoma vaccine, and then getting systemic immunotherapy.

I don't even remember when I did biochemo, it was a while back.  If you look through my patnet, you will see it didn't eliminate melanoma 100% but it did stop it in it's tracks.  Sloan Kettering no longer does biochemo which doesn't mean it doesn't work.  I was on the bone marrow floor for a couple of months, the key thing is to research the protocol and find somebody who has done a lot of it.  The right place and protocol really will make every little bit count.  Aweful to go through, but if I had to do it all over again, I would not hesitate.   Surgery is always the best strategy for removable tumors.  Biochemo was my treatment of choice because things became systemic.  Should your husband progress, it is always good to have options on the table.  I took the same approach as KarenNY, to tough out the hard treatments early on(before my body became too weak to take on the other ones)

In the meantime, I would look into a trial that includes melanoma vaccines rather than interferon.  They haven't been proven to benefit anybody, but I definitely believe my long term survival may be related to my immune system being primed by a melanoma vaccine, and then getting systemic immunotherapy.