Hi Siti, I had many lymph node mets up to the PALNs at diagnosis. Both Oncologist and Surgeon agreed it was too widespread to attempt surgery and to go on Chemo and re-evaluate. I did FolFox for 6 months which shrank the lymph nodes to virtually normal although my Oncologist and I agree the cancer i...

My lymph node spread is more extensive, but I did meet with a surgeon who seemed confident he could remove para aortic nodes if the spread were limited to that region. It sounds like this is the case for your husband which is good news. All surgical procedures carry risk so it's normal to worry. Bas...

Hi Windswept, I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. As an incurable Stage IV patient with 3 young children I was devastated and did patient counselling at my cancer center. I was after a while able to live in the moment and I try not to think about what will happen in the future. Sometimes I do an...

It is a horrible thing to face and there is no way to sugar coat it. That said it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. There are many treatment options that you haven’t tried that may work. It’s a bad hand to be dealt but it ain’t close to being over yet.

Sorry to hear it sounds like a rough one. Chemo just sucks.

I had some rough cycles on FolFox (number 4 particularly stands out for me) and susbequent ones were sometimes better. Hope that helps.

AT

Sounds like great news. I remember hearing that chemo was working at it was like the first thing that went right on this terrifying journey. May you have more positive news in the future !

I can't answer definitively as everyone has a unique medical profile. Generally if it has only spread to lymph nodes in proximity to the colon that is stage 3. If it has spread to any other organs or distant lymph nodes that is considered stage 4. This can be a little tricky depending on how far the...

Hey Trying, I just wanted to say this is horrible and sucks...words can’t even describe how scared and angry I get. You aren’t alone in feeling like this and we often put on a brave face here. (I’m regularly reduced to a quivering mess when I think of my kids). Seeing a counselor at my Cancer Agency...

I don’t know about other vaccines but you may find this interesting

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28923497/

Dukoral use may be linked to a survival benefit for Colon cancer.

AT

I am on maintenance chemo. I did over a year of 5FU pump and Avastin. The pump started making me sick and I am now doing Xeloda (3200mg reduced from 4000mg due to sore feet) and Avastin. I'm on the third 3 week cycle and so far seems so good (knock on wood). Everything I've read leads me to believe ...

I did 12 rounds of FolFox and Bevicuzimab and about 15 more of 5FU and Bev (now on round 2 of Xeloda and Bev). Side effects sucked but I would describe my quality of life as good. While on full FolFox I was knocked down for a few days every 2 weeks but after that I was just a bit more tired than nor...

Sounds stable to me. I’ve sat with a radiologist while he remeasured one of my scans and his measure was 1mm different from the doc who authored the first report. That’s on the same scan so imagine the margin of error between scans.

Congrats on your long term NED !

AT.

Thanks so much for the update and the helpful information. This sounds like it has a good chance to provide long term remission. It also seems through anecdotes on this board that chemo can wipe or suppress those micro mets if they are present in other nodes. If you want a great story about radiatio...

There is every reason to have hope for a positive outcome for your husband. Surgery still may be an option and if not, then systemic treatments may be very effective. There are several examples on this board of people with lymph node mets that have been going strong for many years and tolerating tre...

Hi Trying, There is plenty of reason to hope. One option for BC patients is the POG trial. Which has seen some success in at least one stage 4 colon cancer patient. I’m from the Vancouver area. Another stage 4 patient from chilliwack and I get together for a coffee from time to time. If you ever wan...