I had Robotic Assisted LAR post surgery - pre chemo. I don't really know if it was helpful for the Robotic assist or not. What I can say is that surgery went pretty well. Even though I had robotic, they still had to give me a large c-section like incision. This is where they removed the tumor, mine ...

Anyone else experience this, tips, suggestions ? UGGG :( benben, Bed Buddy may help take your pain down a notch. At the very least they felt soothing for an investment of $15 to $20 a piece that is not a drug. I got them from Walgreens. I used to cover my DH in those Bed Buddies that you heat up in...

Ana, Hang in there girl, you are making progress. Fatigue, and increased fatigue is to be expected. Some get it more than others. The advice I got from the long timers here was to rest when you feel you need to rest. And that I think is very solid advice. I tried to battle through the fatigue a coup...

Ana, the oxaliplatin does only a small part of the chemotherapy work. Most of the chemotherapy benefit comes from 5-fluorouracil (from Xeloda). I read somewhere that oxaliplatin improves survival by something like only 3%. That's really good to know after I read about the potential side effects of ...

Yes low WBC is quite common with Folfox/chemo. I had low WBC after the very first treatment neutrophils were at 1050 AKA 1.05 - depending on your chart reading. They still gave me chemo, and then I got 2 granix shots the next week. But still at treatment 3 I was delayed 2 days because my neutrophils...

[ . . . that and I didn't drink the normal 120 ounces of water yesterday. Probably only made about 80 ounces. They said labs looked like I was dehydrated so they pumped me with 2 bags of saline. ! Good luck with those shots, sounds very painful. Just want to stress, drinks LOTS of liquids days prio...

Well I'll post an update with the Granix (now Zarzio). After round 3, I was given 2 zarzio shots spaced out - 1 five days before treatment and a second 2 days before treatment. Results were much better - only mild pain I'd rate 2/3 in the lower spine for about 2-3 hours. I only used CBD and THC for ...

Hey Ana, Best of luck on this upcoming treatment. I hope you get some relative calm during your off week. I know my off week doesn't look so good this next time. I just had treatment 5 given to me, even though my ANC (neutrophils) were at 770, well below the cancer centers allotted 1000 minimum. Yet...

Round six in the books. Can't believe I'm at the halfway point already! However I feel a lot worse than previous rounds. Usually day 1 is just like any other day for me but this time around I've got some severe heartburn and I feel super tired with headaches and joint pain. I'm hoping this doesn't ...

My experience with Port insertion, was overall good. I received full sedation that knocked me out for the install. Surgeon said I snored through most of it :). It took about 30 minutes for me to come out of a visual haze after surgery. Literally saw things all smudged together like a late stage van ...

Good to hear you are having such good results with the Folfox. I know you started disliking the chemo around round 3 from other posts. Glad the struggle is yielding benefits. As much as I dislike the first week of the chemo treatments, I'd probably opt for post-op chemo. I'd be too concerned with an...

I did not do DPD testing. I'm thankful that I don't seem to have too much of an issue with 5FU. Oxaliplatin seems to hit me harder, but mostly the blood counts. I asked ONC about testing for DPD and he stated they just don't do it. Reason being is that it only actually detects it 50% of the time. So...

Hi Kobe, I can understand your frustration with ANC. I had my third treatment delayed 2 days due to low ANC. I had even had 2 shots of granix and yet had 420 ANC. 2 days later however it was up to 1600 and so I was given the third treatment. This last time I had zarzio shots as my insurance won't co...

Benben just wanted to add that I looked closer at the THC:CBD and it is possible to get it in Austria! (Legally) I'm going to speak to my oncologist about it! Thank YOU :) Definitely talk to your Onc about it. I had read about it being used in conjunction for chemo in reducing neuropathy side effec...

Round 5 now under my belt Happy 4th of July everyone! Way to go Tdubz. Glad to hear you're almost half way through and that you're getting to the cardiologist. My heart rate seems to do the opposite and increases. I'm usually 75-80 bpm, but after chemo and growth factor shots jumps up to 90's and e...