The Colon Club

Hands and feet a lot better today. I usually make note of it when I wake up as that's when it's the worst and I didn't notice it. It's still there but fading. Hope it's gone by the next cycle.

Morning does seem to be the worst. I think moving helps alot, getting the circulation going.

susie0915 wrote:Morning does seem to be the worst. I think moving helps alot, getting the circulation going.

Yup. I've been remiss there due to workload. There's much less work pressure because I got the high priority stuff done yesterday.

Yesterday evening I felt stiffness in my arms and was worried that the Hands and Feet were spreading. My wife mentioned to me that she felt it this morning so I checked the barometric pressure and it was below 30 which explains the arthritis-like feelings in my arms. They may be around for a bit as I think that we have the low-pressure stuff for a few days. It also usually means afternoon thundershowers. But at least I have an explanation.

I've been busy resurrecting an old (2008) computer and exercising more so haven't been posting. The exercise has me feeling very good (afterwards).

I have an infusion today and will ask for 50%. This should be the last infusion and I'm looking forward to it. Still two cycles of Xeloda though.

I see a lot of new people here and I'm going to try to check the posts - a lot of activity here from time to time. The nicest thing lately is the weather.

Wow, congrats on your last infusion! You’ve almost made it! Thanks for chronicling your journey here. Enjoy the beautiful weather!

I remember the excitement of knowing it was my last infusion. Even though, I told my husband I didn't even want to go. Good luck today Mike, only two more weeks and no more chemo.

susie0915 wrote:I remember the excitement of knowing it was my last infusion. Even though, I told my husband I didn't even want to go. Good luck today Mike, only two more weeks and no more chemo.

That's how I felt - I didn't want to go.

I only have one more infusion but still two cycles of Xeloda. The Xeloda is becoming a bigger problem but it has far fewer side-effects. The main effect, though becomes a nuisance.

I find that my balance is off. Yoga restores it but only if I do it every day. Yoga both reveals balance issues (which are really muscle and brain issues) and fixes it. I was in the waiting room this morning doing Warrior 1, 2 and 3 and Tree Pose and then walked a mile. It's good to get in a little when you can as it's a lot harder on chemo.

The car was about 100 degrees when I got in and it felt great. The steering wheel was hot and I just enjoyed the heat on my ride home and then to the office. I don't feel awful yet. That should kick in later on. I really do hope that this is the end of the Oxaliplatin.

I had a generally crummy day yesterday but was able to function.

I also had some potato chips last night. The purpose was to avoid diarrhea, and this worked nicely, and to avoid calf cramps overnight, and this worked out too. Bear in mind that I also had 400 MG Mg yesterday morning. I'm taking additional Magnesium and Calcium via tablets and Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium and Potassium via Nuun tablets in warm water. I hate not being able to drink cold water. Pushing onward for the last Oxaliplatin infusion effects.

I'll be really annoyed if the oncologist wants to do one more.

I think that tree nuts have a much bigger effect than Oxaliplatin on recurrence. But there's no guarantee that patients will continue eating them in the future. I eat them because I like them and Costco sells them in large quantities.

If you don't want to do one more, it seems like you should be able to tell your oncologist that, especially with the side effects you've been having.

I've been eating tree nuts every day - walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans. I love them! And they have the added benefit of making me feel full. I could eat them every day indefinitely. I buy them from Trader Joe's.

heiders33 wrote:If you don't want to do one more, it seems like you should be able to tell your oncologist that, especially with the side effects you've been having.

I've been eating tree nuts every day - walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans. I love them! And they have the added benefit of making me feel full. I could eat them every day indefinitely. I buy them from Trader Joe's.

The Oncologist brought up doing only six total. I think that he mentioned this after the 1/2 = Whole clinical studies which he was familiar with. His approaches on side-effects are: 1 week break, cancel a cycle (with one drug), lower dosage. He also added Mg to the IV one time when I had cramps.

I used to get my nuts at Trader Joe's but Costco has bigger quantities and better prices and the parking spaces at Trader Joes are tiny. We usually buy 3 pounds of nuts at a time. We get pistachios in shell and cashews. I will sometimes buy macadamias as a treat; maybe one or two times a year.

The oncologist's office called to ask me if I wanted to schedule a follow up in four weeks because he wasn't sure if I was done this cycle or not. I indicated that I was planning to do the 8th cycle with just the Xeloda so she scheduled me for three weeks. But it looks like the Oncologist would have been okay with seven Xeloda and six Oxaliplatin. I'm going to try to get the numbers for tree nuts, vitamin D3 and exercise and run it through a recurrence odds formula. I would add in regimen aspirin but I don't plan to do that because that can have other side-effects.

NHMike wrote:...I'm going to try to get the numbers for tree nuts, vitamin D3 and exercise....

Here's a reference on tree nuts from a post earlier this year:

Possible benefits of eating tree nuts
http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57966&p=472910#p472910

Walnuts
http://www.aicr.org/foods-that-fight-cancer/walnuts.html

O Stoma Mia wrote:

NHMike wrote:...I'm going to try to get the numbers for tree nuts, vitamin D3 and exercise....

Here's a reference on tree nuts from a post earlier this year:

Possible benefits of eating tree nuts
http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57966&p=472910#p472910

I got the tree nuts. I couldn't get recurrence percentages for exercise and Vitamin D3. I just got mortality deltas and I'll have to figure out how to convert them to recurrence odds.