Michele --

My husband Barry was given carboplatin as it is less toxic than cisplatin and his oncologist wanted to avoid causing more damage to his high-end hearing (he already has some hearing loss at this range) and avoid peripheral neuropathy. He tells everyone the chemo was practically a "non-event" -- no serious side-effects and the Anzemet given with the infusion controlled any nausea. He had it in 7 small doses, once a week, which was even easier to tolerate. On the other hand, almost all the people getting cisplatin were having a much harder time dealing with nausea. To Barry, taking the amifostine was the most difficult part of his treatment.

Our oncologist said that the chemo is a radio-sensitizer, to boost the effectiveness of the radiation, which "is the workhorse in this treatment" (her exact words).

My husband is now 6 months out of treatment, has had two PET/CT follow-ups and any number of physical examinations and there is no sign of residual or recurrent cancer, so the carboplatin worked as well as anything could.

We asked our RO today about Erbitux -- if Barry had been starting treatment this month instead of last August, they would have given him Erbitux plus carbo.

Gail