NHMike and Caat— I highly recommend an investment of a decent foot massager to help stimulate the nerves in your feet from the oxaliplatin induced neuropathy. I am almost two and a half years out from chemo and unfortunately have permanent neuropathy in my feet, but I at least have it down to a pain...

Hi Strategygirl— From what I can tell of your description of your permanent stoma, it appears you have a colostomy, correct? I have a permanent one myself—had rectum and sigmoid removed, but rest of colon intact. I have had a colonoscopy with my stoma and the prep is identical in nature to what is d...

Hi Spazzyjanet, welcome to our kindred spirits club, not exactly the club anyone would aspire to have to be a part of. Please heed the advice of rp1954, always sound, excellent advice on how to get the most out of your “chemo experience”. In that regard, I cannot offer anything more helpful with reg...

Hi Gloria—oh man, I am so sorry to hear how rough your recovery has been. Naturally there is going to be pain and a decent recovery, but yours does sound like it is not the norm unfortunately. I had apr surgery with a permanent colostomy in December of 2015. I was home five days later and honestly w...

Congrats Gravelguy on both the NED status and the joy of being able to walk your daughter down the aisle. That has to be a feeling like no other given your initial diagnosis. Sooooooo happy for you! Enjoy every step of that walk with her!

I would actually recommend you start exposing your feet to more stimuli—this was advice from Miss Molly to someone else a while back and unfortunately when I read her post I was well over a year out from finishing my chemo so the neuropathy was too far gone to ever fully fade away for me. But after ...

Hi nynessie— Welcome to the forum, so glad you found us! Not a club anyone really wants to have to join, but you will find a wealth of information on here. While I cannot relate to your specific situation, I just wanted to reply to say welcome and I am happy to hear you have a better oncologist who ...

Steve—I was happy to see you were posting an update, but then bummed to hear it has been a tough recovery for you, sorry. I had a ng tube for 48 hours after surgery and was going crazy, so I am feeling for you and truly hope your colon gets it’s act together soon so you can get rid of that tube. You...

I told my husband it felt like a had a leave or something in my shoes. I also avoid being barefoot now. To this day, over two years out from my last treatment, when I have socks on with my sneakers, it always feels like the socks are all bunched up on the bottom, under the soles of my feet (even th...

You really get to learn the small conveniences of bathrooms like a hook to hang up your jacket or bag, a table to put things on and someplace to put your supplies. So true, so true! I have been doing a fair bit of driving on the PA Turnpike this past summer and have thought the exact same thing, Mi...

I am thinking I would rather still have the surgery because my tumor literally was up against the anal sphincter and it didn’t shrink enough to warrant no surgery and I also therefore needed to have a permanent colostomy. I know, most people would try just about anything to not have an ostomy and I ...

I was able to get a CT scan at six months post treatment because my spleen was slightly enlarged after finishing chemo, but otherwise I am on the once a year for five years for the CT scans. Blood work: every 3 months for first year, now at every six months with visits to Onc office to review blood ...

Here are a few basic need-to-knows about cancer: first, it’s NEVER fine. It is insidious, and a cancer diagnosis stays with you for life. Yes, you celebrate milestones of getting past it at its various stages, but the fear of recurrence is always with you; every second of every minute of every day....

Boxhill - I'm with you. I hesitate to even comb/brush my hair that much these days because it's so alarming to see all that hair. And, yes, in/after the shower is the worst. It just keeps coming - so many long strands. I wonder why this one side effect is so upsetting to me when I can choose so man...

Hi Eleda— I too did eight rounds of FOLFOX. Not everyone does the Xelox regimen with the pills—I barely made it out alive taking all of those Xeloda pills during radiation, no way was I going to be able to do all that was needed for the Xelox regimen. As for the rebounding on your off weeks, I was p...