After oxi is done

[Volfan]

I only have two more treatments with oxi.
For the people that went through oxi did you have any side effects go away after you were done with it?
Also doc talks like he will give me a choice between the pump and the pills.
Not having the pump would be great but I've gotten to a point I can manage the side effects for the most part. I'm worried that with the pills I might have a different set of side effects from them.

[mypinkheaven]

Most people seem to do fine with the pill Xeloda. I wasn't one of them. I felt really terrible. I have the pump now and it is better.

[Achilles Torn]

I had Oxy discontinued since June and am on maintenance of 5FU pump with Avastin Infusion since. The cold sensitivity went away which is nice but I had my neuropathy steadily get worse for about a month and half (Numb fingers and feet, and a feeling of tingling in feet when moving my neck up and down) All in all manageable stuff.

It seems to have leveled off now or getting slightly better the last week or so.

I too am considering a switch to the pills as the pump is a drag especially with my kids.

AT

[Deb m]

My husband made it thru 10 rounds of Oxi. He had numbness on his fingers and the bottom of his feet. His fingers completely recovered after about 3-4 months. His feet recovered after about 6-8 months, but not completely, maybe 80%, but what little bit that's left in his feet does not bother him much at all.

deb m

[NHMike]

A short discussion of this on another board.

https://csn.cancer.org/node/311615

[susie0915]

My neuropathy really didn't kick in until a few weeks after I finished my six rounds of xelox. The Dr. did reduce the dosage along the way due to diarrhea mostly. I'm 16 months out from xelox and still have some tingling and numbness in my feet. My hands are much better. As long as I wear something on my feet it's okay hasn't really prohibited me from doing anything just annoying. Not good barefoot though. Especially on hard surfaces. I did have raynauds in my hands before the cancer so when it's cold hands do get numb still. I don't think it's worse than before the cancer though. My oncologist prescribed me Neurontin but I really don't want to take it, can make you feel kind of loopy so I'm trying to just muddle through and hope it subsides some more. I find as long as I keep moving it helps.

[juliej]

Oxi is tricky. Some of the side effects actually worsen in the weeks after your last dose! Neuropathy, especially, tends to keep building for a few more weeks, then levels out and starts going down. The other side-effects -- nausea, diarrhea, mouth sores, low blood counts, fatigue, loss of taste buds/appetite, muscle cramps -- they start going away almost immediately unless you are on other chemo.

For me, personally, there was a huge difference in my muscle cramping, fatigue, and loss of taste buds when I stopped oxi. I continued to take Avastin and Xeloda (pill form of 5FU) so I still had side effects from them, but oxi was responsible for my worst symptoms and I felt so much better when it was gone!

If you're fine with the pump, stick with it. Xeloda has its own set of side-effects but to me they were manageable and I didn't want to haul the pump around. If you're managing the pump's side-effects pretty well, then I'd stay with it if I were you.

[fumaros]

I had neuropathy in my hands and feet. It has been 9 months. Neuropathy is gone from hands, feet have improved drastically I still have tingly toes though. Congrats on being close to finishing.