re: cabloin (sp) -- Could you be referring to carboplatin? It's a sister drug to cisplatin.

I received carbo in place of cisplatin during a long period when there was a shortage of cisplatin. My onc explained that cisplatin is most widely prescribed because it was the first drug in its class to be tested and proven. Hence there is a wider body of evidence for its effectiveness than for sister drugs in its class. (My translation: "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.") But that does not make sister drugs any less effective than cisplatin.

Still, doctors habitually prescribe cisplatin as the drug of choice -- this despite the fact that carboplatin reportedly produces milder nausea effects than cisplatin.

Possibly (but only possibly) for this reason, nausea was never a major issue for me, despite four rounds of TPF prior to radiation and additional chemo. In fact, after the first couple of weeks I gradually reduced my Zofran intake to a level that was just sufficient to ward off nausea. It was far less than the prescribed dose.

(Note: TPF refers to a common tumor-fighting drug combination; the "P" refers to any of the platins including cisplatin and carbo. As I understand it, the "F" -- short for 5-FU or 5-fluorouracil -- is also a powerful nausea inducing drug. But I wouldn't swear to that. Check with higher authority.)