kal74 wrote:I’m really struggling with making a decision on adjuvant chemotherapy, I’m 43 with Stage 1 rectal cancer (T2 tumor) did Xeloda/radiation for 6 weeks prior to surgery to shrink tumor it went down about 50 % and pathology showed clear margins T2 tumor removed and 30 lymph nodes clean. Oncologist is recommending 12 cycles of oxaliplatin/5fu via port. I asked about doing just Xeloda and he said we could but he recommends being more aggressive.
Has anyone done just Xeloda for adjuvant Chemo and have a good result?
I was stage 3 and did Chemo/Rad, Surgery, then Chemo. I did 6 cycles of XelOx (Xeloda + Oxali). My Onc gave me credit for the chemo I did with radiation. I would do Xeloda every time over 5-FU, I can't imagine being hooked up to a pump.
Oncs can be conservative as they're not the once getting the poison. In my opinion the best shoot at cure is for the surgeon to have removed all of the cancer. I'm not sure I'd count on the Chemo it's more to clean up and small stragglers. With that said at stage 3 with a couple positive nodes for me Chemo is a no brainer. At stage 1 there's more of a question. One way to think about it may be, if you have a recurrence and didn't do the full XelOx how would you feel about that?
There's no question I'd chose Xeloda over 5-FU. The standard XelOx program it 8, three week cycles. Maybe do 6 cycles of XelOx as a compromise and get the benefit of Oxali.