Monday 16 May 2016

Surgery after Avastin...?

Posting this question for Jaki and Roger.  Have any of you had surgery after being on Avastin?  Any complications?  Bleeding issues?  Curious if this has been done with any degree of success in our group...

Thanks very much.
Annie

3 comments:

  1. I am wondering the same thing. My husband has had three infusions of Avastin, the total recommended being three to five infusions. His last infusion was 10/26/16. He is also on the 5/23 protocol of Temodar. Chemo/radiation (he took CBD oil an hour before each session and THC oil at night), we were told, was the cause of the cell necrosis and the resulting speech impairment, weakness, and a raft of other symptoms and seizures (20+ focal seizures and two grand mal seizures). He was hospitalized with the second grand mal seizure after which the first round of Avastin was given on 09/17/16. After 10 days in a neuro-rehab unit, intensive PT, OT, Speech Therapy, my husband did quite well. The comparison between the most recent MRI (10/25/16) and the post chemo-radiation treatment MRI (08/25/2016) with two rounds of Avastin was dramatic. Not only had the tumor's size reduced by ".05 to 1 cm" according to the NO but the edema surrounding the heretofore inoperable MGMT-methylated tumor was significantly reduced too. My husband's NO has taken a wait-and-see stance on whether to administer a 4th round of Avastin and will decide after a late-November MRI. For our family it has been wonderful to have my husband functioning better again and the Avastin treatment has been worth it. Contrary to what others have written, the NO my husband sees told us that Temodar and Avastin together make each other more effective. Now that I have read differently, I am wondering.

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  2. I have had three infusions of Avastin and my experience, so far, has been very good. It reduced the swelling significantly and now, the latest MRI has shown that my tumor is shrinking as well. My speech, gait, and brain fuzz are all much better. I am also on CO and other supplements, including boswellia AKBA, and I think those are what kept me from getting seizures after I hit my head several times, pre-Avastin. But the Avastin cleared up the residual swelling.

    I have had some side effects: I can't feel two of my toes and I spike high blood pressures, up to 197/107, which is a bit scary. But so far, I think I've come out ahead.

    To answer Annie's question, my derm refused to cut out a squamous cell carcinoma on my head because I was on Avastin. He said he'd try to burn it instead. The area bubbled up, got green, nasty, and full of pus and it took a lot of work, cleaning, etc to get it to finally scab over. The scab is not falling off though, no matter how much alcohol I put on it to dry it out. I will probably end up going back and having the derm look at it again. My latest blood results are all in the normal range so there is no lack of platelets, for example (thank you CO and other supplements!!) so I don't see any other reason for the wound to not be healing other than the Avastin. It is a known side effect, unfortunately.

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  3. A case of glioblastoma resected immediately after administering bevacizumab: consideration on histopathological findings and safety of surgery.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28429093

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