Tdubz wrote:Hopefully the shot works for you and you don't have to delay treatment. How low did your WBC counts have to go for them to give you a shot?
Tdubz wrote:Getting real close to the halfway point so that's exciting. Can't wait til wed to disconnect lol.
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Tdubz wrote:Round 5 now under my belt
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Stage III: 3 months of FOLFOX was nearly as effective as 6 months
Shorter Chemo Duration for Colon Cancer May Spare Patients ToxicityNews | June 04, 2017 | ASCO, Colorectal Cancer
CHICAGO—Patients may be able to simplify their course of chemotherapy after surgery for stage III lymph node–positive colon cancer, according to a new analysis of six clinical trials (abstract LBA1). The data, presented at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, held June 2–6, suggest that some patients may only need half of the longstanding standard course of chemotherapy.
The researchers examined data on 12,834 patients and found that 3 months of chemotherapy was nearly as effective as 6 months in patients with relatively lower recurrence risk. The findings suggest that this new schedule results in fewer side effects, particularly nerve damage.
“The side effects were dramatically lower and so this will change the standard of care,” said senior study author Axel Grothey, MD, an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota.
Since 2004, the standard adjuvant therapy after surgery has been a combination of chemotherapies (FOLFOX or XELOX) given over a period of 6 months. The goal of this study, which pooled data from 6 studies conducted in North America, Europe, and Asia, was to determine if 3 months of chemotherapy was as effective as 6 months.
The analysis showed that a 3-month course of chemotherapy was associated with a lower chance of being colon cancer free at 3 years compared with the standard 6-month course (74.6% vs 75.5%). In patients considered low risk for cancer recurrence (60% of patients in the study), the difference was even smaller (83.1% in patients receiving a 3-month course vs 83.3% in patients receiving a 6-month course).
“It is very good news. It will decrease long-term side effects that would affect quality of life,” said Grothey. He noted that patients with higher-risk colon cancer should discuss these results with their clinicians to tailor a course of therapy optimal for them, taking into account their preference, age, and ability to tolerate chemotherapy.
Nerve damage was substantially less common in patients receiving a 3-month course of chemotherapy compared with a 6-month course (15% vs 45% with FOLFOX and 17% vs 48% with XELOX). For all patients combined, the rate of disease-free survival at 3 years was slightly lower with 3 months of chemotherapy vs 6 months of chemotherapy (74.6% vs 75.5%). The type of chemotherapy regimen selected affected the difference in 3-year disease-free survival between the 3-month and 6-month treatment durations (75.9% vs 74.8% with XELOX and 73.6% vs 76.0% with FOLFOX). Patients were followed for a median time of 39 months.
http://www.cancernetwork.com/asco/short ... s-toxicity
Tdubz wrote: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 mean days 2 through 5 are going to be worse too lol.
I might be able to stop iron infusions since anemia seems to be getting under control but we will discuss that next week, so that's good, should save me about 30 min of infusion time.
I also get to do an echo on my heart this week. Hopefully that will give me some answers as well. The light at the end of the tunnel is definitely getting brighter! i hope these last few rounds stay on schedule like the first 6. My daughters birthday is the week after my last treatment and I'm determined to make that party!
Question about neuropathy. do you guys have fingers/toes that are constantly tingling? I seem to only experience it when I'm typing or texting or doing things with my hands, sometimes I feel it in my toes when walking, but it's never been a constant thing, even though it lasted until yesterday, I still got the full dose of oxy today. The last time I had cold sensitivity was Thursday. If you had oxy reduced, what were the symptoms you had that made the onc reduce?
Tdubz wrote:Question about neuropathy. do you guys have fingers/toes that are constantly tingling? I seem to only experience it when I'm typing or texting or doing things with my hands, sometimes I feel it in my toes when walking, but it's never been a constant thing, even though it lasted until yesterday, I still got the full dose of oxy today. The last time I had cold sensitivity was Thursday. If you had oxy reduced, what were the symptoms you had that made the onc reduce?
Tdubz wrote:So good news, echo came back and everything looked normal. Still no word on what's causing the chest pains, but hopefully my onc will have some more information about it when I go in on Monday.
Neuropathy has been much worse this round, hands and feet are tingling all the time now. I'm on day 11 of this treatment and I've felt it pretty much all day.
I've also been experiencing some back pain. It feels just like a sore muscle right in the middle of my back. I've had this for a few weeks now and thought it was just because I've been lying down a lot more, but it's still there even on off treatment weeks so maybe it's related to chemo?
Yesterday my thighs felt really weak. Felt almost like what you'd expect your legs to feel like after a really hard leg workout, and today my thighs are really sore. I haven't done anything this week but go to work and come home. No exercising at all so it's weird my legs would be feeling like this. Any of y'all have these symptoms?
Tdubz wrote:8th treatment is a wrap! No chest pains either this round so that's good. Oxi was reduced to 80% for rounds 7 and 8 due to neuropathy. while it was better with the reduction, side effects still lasted into the next treatment. I'm thinking it will get reduced again for #9. I felt more nauseous this go around on days 1-3, but I guess that's to be expected at this point in treatment. Days 4 and 5 seem to be better than previous. Got my first cea results back since starting chemo and the results were 0.7! Super excited about that!
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