Stage IIIers - chemo advice; Chicago area oncologists???

[nodo]

Hi all. I had stage IIIC cc four years ago and now have a friend going through this. She has questions for me and I'm not really sure what has changed since my diagnosis. What chemo regimens are you receiving now for stage III ... she has not yet seen her oncologist, but we think she's probably a stage IIIc. I'm a bit concerned because her surgery was early July and she is not seeing her onc until mid-August. When I went through it, I was told to start chemo 6 to 8 weeks post surgery. What is the timeline now to start? Also, any of you in the Chicago area, can you please recommend a good oncologist. She is in the northern suburbs, so may prefer someone out that way. However, I'm sure she'd be willing to travel into the city for a great doc. Thanks for any help/advice - I do appreciate it.

[vancouver eve]

In Canada it is treatments with oxi and zeloda or the pump with the 5fu and oxi. It is not to long for her to wait if she is not healed yet. But she at least should be seeing an onc. to find out when she is ready to start treatments. The Surgeon should know when she is ready and can make the referral. I am glad to know Nodo that you are still doing great.

[AJS]

I was diagnosed as Stage IIIA and my chemo regimen is Oxiplatin & 5FU. I am also doing a clinical trial with Erbitux.

[NWgirl]

I'm stage III colo-rectal cancer. I had 4 treatments of FOLFOX, 6 weeks radiation with 5FU 24/7 and scheduled for 8 more rounds of FOLFOX (possibly 4 rounds of 5FU after that depending on how I hold up). Had they known prior to surgery that my lymph nodes were affected, I would have done radiation first, but the tests pre-surgery showed no nodes involved. My tumor was right where the colon/rectum meet.

Hope this is of some help. We live in the northwest, so can't offer much on Chicago - best of luck in finding someone you are comfortable working with.

[seussfan]

I have/had Stage 3C colon cancer and I was given Folfox4 - Oxialaplatin(Sp?), leucovorin(sp?), and 5FU. I had surgery efore that to remove my appendix, cecum, and 6 inches of my ascending colon.

[Magnolia]

I had six months of Folfox, and, through a clinical trial, 12 months of Avastin. I was Stage IIIc.

[Traveler001]

Hematology Oncology Associates of Illinois, located on the 21st floor of the Professional building on St Claire, right across the street from Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There are several Oncologists that handle Colon cancer. I would say that they are all excellent.

[Joanne 814]

I am stage 3. I am starting week 11 of 12 this week, hopefully, if my platelets are high enough. I did chemo/radiation for 28 days with the 5FU checmo bag 24/7. Now I am on an every other of the folfox. I cant wait to be done, as I am watching every one else go on vacation!!

Good Luck!


ONWARD!!!


Joanne

[sumit22]

I would agree with Traver001, Hematology Oncology Associates of Illinois is where my wife goes and the doctors have been wonderful. My wife is a patient of Dr. Ann Mellott.

[CBLACK]

My husband was diagnosed in 2006. He received 6 months of treatment from Northwest Oncology & Hematology, 27750 W Il Route 22 Ste G70, Barrington, IL 60010. This is affiliated with Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington. His oncologist is Dr. Reisel. He has been great for us. He goes above and beyond and will make calls or email after hours. My husband's treatment started as FOLFOX and then switched to FOLFIRI after an allergic reaction at three months. He was going to be on a clinical trial for Avastin but did not qualify. That would have been just additional to the FOLFOX. He has had no problems since treatment finished and just goes back for routine bloodwork and scans.
Please feel free to send me a private message if you have more questions about this doctor or practice. I wish your friend much luck and a quick recovery.

[CBLACK]

I forgot to mention that I have a family friend that is receiving treatment for a brain tumor at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion, IL. Just thought I would mention this facility since in is north of the city and another option.

[Traveler001]

I doubly agree with sumit22. HOAI is great because it is very much affiliated with Northwestern, yet it is its own practice. As a patient you will get great personal attention and you also get easy access to Northwestern's facilities. Its the best of both worlds. Dr John Shaw is my Onc. He is great.
http://hoaillinois.com/staff_shaw.aspx

Dr Mellott also came to see me a couple of times when I was hospitalized. Plus in my case, I participated in a clinical trial for Erbitux which was headed up by Dr Al Benson, who is one of the Directors of the Onc Dept at Northwestern. http://www.cancer.northwestern.edu/lead ... benson.cfm

Off the record, I was told that if you have Adenocarcinoma, or the garden-variety colon cancer, then HOAI is the place to go, but if you have a rare type of cancer, then the Onc Dept at Northwestern might be better. That is just what someone told me.

Steven Newmann MD was also recommended to me and he is also at HOAI. I met with him right after surgery. Jeffrey Cilley, MD also is another good choice.

Sorry to toot Northwestern's horn so much, but I quickly narrowed my choices to that or U of Chicago, and I just liked Northwestern more. Plus a friend of mine went to Med school there and he knew my surgeon, and gave me advice too.

[nodo]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. I do appreciate your input and have passed it along to my friend. When I was diagnosed, oxaliplatin was just approved for Stage IV. Literally, the night I came home from the hospital, there was a story on the news about it. It was not approved for Stage III, but I was lucky and found an onc that gave it to me. I know Avasin and Erbitux are newer so I wasn't sure if they were for stage III now or not. I do appreciate your time and advice on that and the Chicago area oncologists. What a wonderful group this is!

[Magnolia]

Avastin and Erbitux are officially for Stage IV, but being studied for Stage III. That's how I got Avastin. That study may be closed now. I'm not sure. The safety data are in. No surprises. My doc told me there were some risks to Avastin, but none they didn't already know about from using it in Stage IV disease. What we have to wait for is the data on whether it reduces the number of recurrances at the 5 year mark. Too soon to tell. So far, Folfox alone has done a pretty good job. If Avastin and/or Erbitux improves on that, we're looking at something really amazing. Stage III CRC USED to have a pretty grim prognosis back in the day when 5FU was all they had to treat it. 5FU wasn't a bad drug, it just didn't always work, and when it didn't, there was nothing else to offer. Now we've got several coctails that work, and 5 year disease free survival is a realistic hope for nearly all of us at Stage III.

[Dori]

I checked on the Avastin and Erbitux with FOLFOX study a few weeks ago and it was closed.