Gemcitabine and Docetaxel in Treating Patients With Recurrent Osteosarcoma (Closed to Accrual as of 12/21/06) or Ewing's Sarcoma or Unresectable or Locally Recurrent Chondrosarcoma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed\* diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  * Recurrent high-grade osteosarcoma (closed to accrual as of 12/21/06) or Ewing's sarcoma

    * Progressive disease after standard therapy
    * Received no more than 2 additional salvage regimens
  * Chondrosarcoma

    * Unresectable OR locally recurrent and unable to be completely resected NOTE: \*Biopsy required for isolated pulmonary recurrences
* Measurable disease

  * At least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion by medical imaging techniques
  * Ascites, pleural effusions, and bone marrow disease are not considered measurable disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

* 4 and over

Performance status

* ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) 0-2 (≥ 18 years of age)
* Karnofsky 50-100% (11-17 years of age)
* Lansky 50-100% (≤ 10 years of age)

Life expectancy

* Not specified

Hematopoietic

* Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm\^3
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3 (transfusion independent)
* Hemoglobin ≥ 8.0 g/dL (transfusion allowed)

Hepatic

* Bilirubin ≤ upper limit of normal (ULN) (except for patients with Gilbert's syndrome)
* ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN

Renal

* Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate \> 70 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 OR
* Serum creatinine ≤ ULN for age:

  * Ages 5 and under ≤ 0.8 mg/dL
  * Ages 6 to 10 ≤ 1.0 mg/dL
  * Ages 11 to 15 ≤ 1.2 mg/dL
  * Ages 16 to 18 ≤ 1.5 mg/dL

Other

* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 months after study participation
* Sensory or motor neuropathy due to prior chemotherapy ≤ grade 1
* Sensory or motor neuropathy due to prior surgery or tumor involvement ≤ grade 2 AND stable or improving
* No active or uncontrolled infection
* No known hypersensitivity reaction to docetaxel or other polysorbate 80-formulated agents

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

* At least 72 hours since prior filgrastim (G-CSF)
* No prior allogeneic transplantation
* No concurrent immunotherapy

Chemotherapy

* At least 2 weeks since prior myelosuppressive therapy
* At least 6 months since prior myeloablative therapy
* No prior gemcitabine
* No prior taxanes
* No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

* Concurrent hormonal therapy allowed

Radiotherapy

* At least 6 weeks since prior local radiotherapy
* At least 4 months since prior extensive radiotherapy to more than 50% of the pelvis
* At least 4 months since prior cranial spinal radiotherapy
* At least 6 months since prior total body irradiation
* No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

* No concurrent surgery

Other

* Recovered from all prior therapy
* No other concurrent investigational anticancer therapy