The Colon Club

Good Evening all,

I have been given the opition of Xeloda or observation for 2A T3 N0M0 colon cancer. After reading lots of articles I cannot find any information on if it reduces recurrence. Why is there not data on percentage of reduction in recurrance in stage 2. I have a platelet issue and need to consider this very carefully. Any thoughts on this or opinions are welcome. Also anyone done the oncogene DX test. Oncologist says it is junk and the surgeon loves it.

Wishing everyone peaceful toughts

also how do you put stats under your name

Teddybear wrote:Good Evening all,

I have been given the opition of Xeloda or observation for 2A T3 N0M0 colon cancer. After reading lots of articles I cannot find any information on if it reduces recurrence. Why is there not data on percentage of reduction in recurrance in stage 2. I have a platelet issue and need to consider this very carefully. Any thoughts on this or opinions are welcome. Also anyone done the oncogene DX test. Oncologist says it is junk and the surgeon loves it.

Wishing everyone peaceful toughts

also how do you put stats under your name

Hi Teddybear and welcome. As you see from my signature below, I also am stage 2A. Xeloda is the pill form of 5/FU. I was put on Xeloda because I had 2 high risk factors...LVI and Grade 3 tumor. The way my onc explained it to me is.....They got everything during surgery, so I take it and I really didn't need it....Some cancer cells can be left after surgery and the chemo will help "mop up" what is left....or cancer cells are left and I take chemo and can still have a recurrence. Do you have any high risk factors? You can also go on https://www.mskcc.org/nomograms/colorec ... robability and fill out the form to give you recurrence rate. Let me know if you need any other info....


How to Create a Signature
https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.co ... 97#p421597

As of right now i think i am not high risk. What is LVI ? I am waiting on test to determine MSI or MSS statis. I am leaning towards taking it just for a chance of reduction. I felt doctors not really interested in stage two, just want you to wait until it comes back. My mind seems to never clear of anxiety over this. How long did you take xeloda?

Teddybear wrote:...
also how do you put stats under your name

You can put your stats under each of your posts by creating a signature and then setting your options to attach your signature each time you compose a new post.

A link with information on how to create a signature is given below.

How to Create a Signature
https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52681&p=421597#p421597

Once you have created a signature in your profile you can then decide to attach this signature to a post of yours by making sure that the "Attach a signature" option is selected in the list of options displayed at the bottom of the post editing screen of the post you are currently editing.

If you later change your signature, the new signature will replace your old signature in all of your previous posts that had signatures attached to them.

If you don't want a signature to appear on a certain post, then you can uncheck the "Attach a signature" box in the list of options at the bottom just before you Submit the post.

If you want your signature to be attached by default every time you post a message, then you have to choose the "Attach my signature by default" option on the "Edit Posting Defaults" screen:

http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/ucp.php?i=ucp_prefs&mode=post

If you want to make other changes to your profile, you can look at the list of possible commands available within the User Control Panel:
http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=50946&p=392504#p392504

Another stage two here, but with high risk features. husband was LVI positive and a T4. LVI is Lymph vessel invasion, meaning cancer cells were found in the vessels of tissue, & tumor that were removed. Our oncologist said cells travel thru these vessels and end up in the lymph nodes eventually. The fact that your nodes were clear is great, but LVI means that things were probably progressing that way, thus putting a person in a high risk category. I think that's the best way in simple terms to explain what LVI means and why it can be a concern if your positive for it. It should be indicated in your surgical pathology report as to whether your positive or negative for this finding.

My husband did 12 rounds of folfox, which was what was highly recommended for him and everything thank God turned out well. NED for going on 7 1/2 years now.

Wishing you peace in your decision making and will pray for a great outcome!

I started out as Stage 4, so my situation is different. However, after being NED for 3 years, I had a lung recurrence - surgically removed. My oncologist gave me an option of Xeloda/Avastin or nothing, although she recommended the chemo.

I decided that I couldn't live with myself if I recurred and hadn't done everything I could to prevent it.

I have seen initially Stage 2 people end up with metastatic disease. It's obviously your decision to make. But, Xeloda is not too bad, and if I were you I would do the Xeloda for a few months. REMEMBER - you can always stop if it is too much for you.

Just my thoughts.

Take care,

Teddybear wrote:As of right now i think i am not high risk. What is LVI ? I am waiting on test to determine MSI or MSS statis. I am leaning towards taking it just for a chance of reduction. I felt doctors not really interested in stage two, just want you to wait until it comes back. My mind seems to never clear of anxiety over this. How long did you take xeloda?

I took Xeloda for 6 months, which equaled 8 cycles. Two weeks on pills and one week off equals a cycle. The dr gave me an option of doing chemo and did it to give myself the best possible outcome.

Thanks for all the advice. I will proceed with the Xeloda because I would not forgive myself if it comes back and I didn’t take it. Wishing all of you health and happiness!

I was stage 2a rectal cancer which is a little different. But my oncologist said even tho chance of recurrence was low wouldn't want to wonder what if I did have a recurrence and didn't do chemo. She could not guarantee cancer cells didn't get into the bloodstream.

Teddybear wrote:... I am waiting on test to determine MSI or MSS statis...

Could you let us know when you get your MSI-status results? Thanks.

The reason is that if your status is MSI-H, then there are implications for type of chemo to select.

Received my MSS positve status today. Doctor now recommends 6 months of Xeloda. I understand MSS is most common and has a higher recurrence rate. But all of these statistics are misleading when you really review the very limited number of studies. I will proceeded with the xeloda. Any thoughts on what someone with MSS tumor type needs to understand?
I don’t really know if this is terrible news or if it really doesn’t matter.
Thanks for listening!

Our oncologist told us that it's true there is a higher risk of occurrence if your MSS, but responses to treatments is much better. So I guess it's a trade off. Our oncologist and genetic counselor at MDA told us that it was good the he was MSS. Pros and cons to everything. I think the most important thing is just knowing so you can plan a more precise treatment and surveillance plan. More knowledge is always a good thing.

I planned on adjunct Xeload after my LAR surgery but my ileostomy left me chronically dehydrated and was affecting my kidneys so I had to stop after the first round. I really wanted to complete the treatments but my onc was adamant that I didn’t want to risk my kidneys for a small chance in preventing a recurrence. Of course, I worry all the time about a recurrence but I would have worried about it anyway. good luck!