Carboplatin? Anyone?

[LordOfChaos]

Hi!! I had been reading a lot about the possible side effects of radiotherapy... Is there a chance I get trated with caboplatin instead? Here in Portugal it seems that doctors do whatever they want and we don't have much to say about the treatment options...

[TimsWife]

My Husband Did Carboplatin

HI- My husband had a Stage IA Seminoma. He was diagnoised March of this year. We choose 2 doses of Carboplatin instead or survelliance. My husband was terrified of the side effects of Radiaition and I could not have lived with the wait and see option. I would be happy to answer any questions you have about his treatment, which he finished about 4 weeks ago.

Best of Luck!

[Karen]

My husband was also IA seminoma and went the paraaortic radiation route. Chemo wasn't suggested by his oncologist or Sloan (second opinion). His chemo-phobia was worse than radiation-phobia and he didn't want to deal with the much more frequent follow ups of surveillance. I posted two articles and 2 related commentaries published in the past 6 months on carboplatin vs radiotherapy for stage I seminoma. Worth a read to show even the experts can't agree. While stage I seminoma is a TC to be envied in a way, the burden of treatment decision is more on the patient than it is for other TCs, and that's a hard thing to cope with when the decision is yours and you don't want to screw it up. No matter what you chose chances are extremely high you'll be fine! Take care!

[Karen]

Have you or your docs decided on a treatment yet?

[LordOfChaos]

Question To TimsWife:

Originally Posted by LordOfChaos
Hi!! Well... This is my first private message in the Forum... I would like to put it on the forum instead of send it private, but was not sure if you would see it... Your husband choosed Carboplatin and the doctor sayd "ok" and that was it? Simple as that? And the treatment? I read in many articles that it is a simple shot... No side effects? Nothing? Thank You! Francisco

[LordOfChaos]

Answer By Timswife:

Re: Hello!

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Hi Francisco,

To answer your question, bascially - yes. Tim had the surgery 36 hours after he found out in the ER that he had TC. Then we spermbanked- I think he did it too soon, but we wanted to be sure. Then we went to see the Radiation Oncologist. The Rad. Oncologist siad that if he was Tim he would not do Radiation- since there was only a 20% chance he would need it. We thought that was huge- I mean if the Radiation Oncologist said -no, why do it. Tim wanted to do the Wait and See Aprroach, but I was absolutely panicked about it. We have 3 little girls and I could not live with a 20% chance of reoccurance. So I researched other options and found Carboplatin. There are other on the site that have done it as well and I contacted them. We made an appointment w/ the medical oncologist for a consultation and he walked into the appointment with the protocals for the Carboplatin treatment- he was going to suggest it and we were going to beg for it. It was the right decision for us- Tim would not do radiation- the chances of a secondary cancer seemed too high for us to be comfortable and it appeared that we would be trading a treatable cancer for an aggressive one- we just did not want to go that route, so we chose Carboplatin.

It is actually an IV Drip and considered by many to be "baby chemo." It takes about 2 hours because the give you anti-nausa meds prior and steriods. You are with other Chemo patients and there is no discomfort during the actual treatment. Tim did experience nausua and drowsiness for about 6 days, with the tiredness lasting longer. We also chose 2 treatments instead of one, as somelse stated before us- one to kill the cancer & one for insurance. The chance sof reoccurance appear to be about the sam eas radiation. There are not many long term studies, but this procedure is much more common in Europe.

6 weeks after the last treatment, we are happy with our decision. Regardless of what the future holds, it was the choice we made together and a decision made with lots of research.

Please ask as many questions as you would like. I asked millions of questions to those before me and I want to do the same for others.

You are welcome to cut and past this onto the webboard.

Kelly (Timswife)

[LordOfChaos]

Hi Karen!

No! Not yet!! I'm trying to get an appointment with the oncologist... Here healthcare is for free... But it takes lots of time to do some stuff...

[LordOfChaos]

Question to Timswife

Hi! You sayd you chose 2 treatments instead of one... Did he already take the 2 treatments? Is there any place in the internet where you know there's the protocals for the Carboplatin with 2 treatments? I only find info on the 1 treatment opption! Do you know what's the difference in terms of cost between radiotherapy and Carboplatin? Here we don't pay for the treatments but I don't whant them to tell me that they don't give me carboplatin just becouse it might be more expensive! Thanks!

[TimsWife]

Hi Francisco,

Yes, Tim received his last treatment about 6-7 weeks ago. We did choose 2 treatments becuse of all of the research I found on the one versus two treatment option. If you follow this link, you will find the majority of research I based our decision on in addition to speaking with others who have choosen this route:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=11134201

We only had to pay our office co-pay with our insurance so cost was not really an issue, since our co-pay was $20 each visit. If you would like I can pull our insurance statements and tell you what our doctor billed the insurance. I think each treatment was around $3500, but don't quote me. I also think I remember reading somewhere that Carboplatin is a less expensive treatment option than Radiation, but I am not sure. Like I said, we really wanted to go this route, so much that we would have paid out of pocket if we needed to.

I am happy to answer any questions- this is a newer treatment option and I want to help others, since so many people helped us!

Best Wishes!