I am very fortunate and honestly, until my kids were old enough and got good jobs, I didn't realize how good our insurance is. My husband's company has a wonderful policy and we only have to pay a $10 copay and everything else about the doc visit is covered in full. Since my husband also teaches par...

My husband took Lyrica for neuropathy (totally unrelated to cancer treatments) and it worked very well for him. He had tried neurontin, among others with little success. However, the insurance also denied the Lyrica stating that it has only been approved for diabetic neuropathy. Too bad it has to be...

Chris, Again, I think the test you are probably referring to is the CEA test. Most labs do like to see a normal, non smoker to be less than 3 or 4, depending on the lab. What is more important is to know what your CEA level was before treatment. If it was, for example, 52, then a 4.1 would be showin...

I was on Xeloda for a total of 5 1/2 months without any of the problems that you are describing. I have a few thoughts. As the previous poster said, I would wonder if the infusion drug is causing a lot of the problems. Secondly, taking only 500 mg of Xeloda a day is an extremely low dose. Thirdly, t...

Jenn, CEA stands for Carcinoembryonic Antigen. It is a type of protein that CAN be given off by some tumors, including those for colorectal cancer. However, please know that not all tumors give this protein off. Doctors routinely check your blood for this protein as it can give an indication if ther...

Archie, No one, and I mean NO ONE, but GOD can tell you how long you have to live. Everyone here is correct. Besides, what good does it do to worry about it. You make a decision to fight it or you don't. Each person's body reacts differently to the chemo, treatments, etc. so it is absolutely impossi...

Rest assured that an enlarged spleen does not necessarily mean anything. Chemo can do that. Also, while this is different, my spleen is always enlarged. Just out of curiousity, I went back to all of my CT reports and my spleen measures 15 cm at it's largest point. The docs refer to it as mildly enla...

Congratulations! And what a wonderful time of the year to get this fantastic news. Take a well earned rest-you deserve it.

May this be just the beginning of nothing but NED reports for you in the future!

Jaynee

I had heard about 3-6 months, but I felt a WHOLE lot better after about 6 weeks. I think everyone is different, but give it at least 1-2 months and you should be feeling a whole lot better by then.

Cats, I have never had the test you are talking about, and frankly, I don't think that I want to. Part of your pain does sound like what I have/had. I had a bone scan because the pain truly felt like it was in my bones to make sure that it wasn't mets to the bone. I was seeing my orthopedic for some...

Here's my two cents worth. I tried the oxi with Xeloda but had a severe reaction after only one infusion so I ended up on Xeloda only (oral 5FU). If it were me, I would at least give the oxi a try-many people end up discontinuing it due to side effects and that is always your option. One thing that ...

Hey, Just wanted to let you know that if you don't have to have your ACL-just your meniscus, it isn't all that bad. I have had both knees operated on for torn meniscus and those were in the days of the major incisions and everything. Still, it wasn't all that bad and I was up and around in no time. ...

Lauren, Unfortunately, and I have to be honest, that is the worst prep. See if the doc will give you the Phospho Soda or the OsmoPrep pills. So many people can't drink all of the Golytly and throw it up. If you can get it down and keep it down, then you have won that battle. Please let us know who t...

Cats, Stupid question but exactly how does it travel (what path does it take) from the tailbone area to the knee? The reason that I ask is this. I started having pain in my hip are (but more towards the back-not totally tailbone though) that "wrapped" around to the front of my leg and went down to t...

Lauren, Truly, the colonoscopy is a piece of cake. The prep is the worst part. What prep did they give you? There are many out there and honestly, some are worse than others. Yes, it's scary that something might be wrong, but look at it this way. IF something is there better to find out about it NOW...