Chemo before or after surgery?

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Daniellabella
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:32 pm

Re: Chemo before or after surgery?

Postby Daniellabella » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:10 pm

Robino1 wrote:
RachelSonenblum wrote:Hi again. My mom is getting her port tomorrow and will start her FOLFOX chemo on Monday. Did anyone with this same protocol have experience with hair loss? She has pretty thick, healthy hair so we are hoping for the best. Also what about travel while on chemo? Any experience or advice? My strong-willed mom wants to keep our plans for a family vacation at the end of the summer but I am not so sure how feasible it is. Thanks for all the help!


The chemo for colon cancer is not the one that makes one go bald. There will be thinning but since she has thick hair, it shouldn't be noticeable. I had thick hair and the only thing I notice is it doesn't take as long to dry and style. ;)

I still travel frequently. Sometimes I push chemo back a week to allow for traveling. She may be ready to just get away from all this by the end of summer. It's good to have something to look forward to. She will know more as she gets further into treatment whether she will be up for a vacation. I'm betting she will be. :)


Oh wow, is this true?!?

My husband is worried about going bald when he starts chemo for his rectal tumor....he says he doesn’t want to look like a little old man!

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: Chemo before or after surgery?

Postby NHMike » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:51 pm

I had Neo-Adjuvant and Adjuvant and my hair thinned slightly. Many people expressed shock when they found out that I had cancer as not that much changed about me in everyday interactions including my hair.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

hawkowl
Posts: 132
Joined: Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:29 am
Location: MN/FL

Re: Chemo before or after surgery?

Postby hawkowl » Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:55 pm

I actually lost all of my scalp hair and much of my facial and body hair from FOLFOX..came as a shock to me! It really fell out after the third cycle
Dx 12/2014 T3N2MX (distant LPLN) low rectal
12/2014-4/2015: FOLFOX (8 cycles)
4/2015-6/2015: 28 cycles of chemoradiation with xeloda, SBRT
8/2015: Robotic APR with iliac node dissection; path showed ypT0,ypN0 (complete pathological response).
11/2015 scans clear, CEA 2.1
11/2015 parastomal hernia repair
3/2016 CEA 1.7, scans stable...
6/2020 5 years of normal CEA and stable scans
Now dealing with pyoderma gangrenosum.
Totally disabled due to oxaliplatin induced neuropathy and dysautonomia

RachelSonenblum
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:26 pm
Facebook Username: Rachel.sonenblum

CEA numbers

Postby RachelSonenblum » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:12 pm

Hi all ... back with another question! I know that everyone says not to get too invested in the CEA numbers but I can't help but wonder if they are reflecting the success of the treatment or not. On 6/13 my mom had a CEA of 9.6, on 7/24 CEA of 8.2 and on 8/7 it was 1.6. Can anyone explain this or share a similar experience? Thanks so much.

Also my mom is now very interested in T cell immunotherapy. I am looking into studies through the NIH that take patients who have gone through some traditional treatment (chemo and radiation) and who are not metastatic stage 4 (since my mom is stage 3). If anyone has anything to share on this I would appreciate it greatly!

Thanks again, and good luck to you all.
Daughter of mom age 49: T3B rectal cancer, stage 3
5/20 ER visit for bleeding
5/23 colonoscopy
5/24 PET
5/25 rectal protocol MRI
6/1 and 6/4 two different tumor board opinions
Waiting to start treatment

lakeswim
Posts: 229
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:37 am

Re: Chemo before or after surgery?

Postby lakeswim » Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:46 pm

Hi Rachel.

On Monday, I will get Round 7 (of 8 rounds) of neoadjuvant (chemo first) treatment. I am happy to answer any questions you have about the experience so far. Esp since I have only seen one or two people who have done it this way.

I can speak to hair right away. I started losing hair after Round 4 and have been losing a ton since then. I am actually fearful that I will lose it all as it is really thin. My ponytail is half its size now.
Female - RC dgns @ 49 y
Adenocarcinoma
10-11 cm from anal verge ("large")
Stage 3a - T4N0M0
FOLFOX May -Sept 18
Capecetabine + Radiation - 28 sessions - Oct - Nov 18
Jan 19 - MRI & flex sig show tumor gone, Chest/ab CT no change
Feb 19 - MRI & flex sig show tumor gone
W&W (must travel)
.....W&W surveillance 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023....
Jan 24 - approaching 5 years this Spring with W&W surveillance to end.
*grateful*


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