Hello All,
My name is Salma (23 yo). I am new to this forum and cannot express how appreciative I am of everyone on here who shares their stories and advice.
My father (64yo) was diagnosed with colon cancer during a colonoscopy on 12/11/2018. The 3 cm sigmoid tumor was biopsied and confirmed to be cancerous. On 1/31/2019 he underwent a laparoscopic partial colectomy and was in the hospital for three days. 2/13 lymph nodes were cancerous and there is a nodule in his lungs (the onc said it is small and not to worry about it now) and the cancer was determined to be stage 3B. The oncologist has recommended the Xelox route for him and placement of a port. His port was put in this week on 2/25/2019.
This whole ordeal has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me and my family. We were in the middle of moving from our childhood home when the cancer was found. I even fell and sprained my foot pretty badly a week earlier. And two weeks ago, my mom found two lumps in her breast during a mammogram. We are waiting on those to be biopsied. Just too many bad things happening at once. I am trying to be strong and positive for my dad and siblings but I do not know how much more I can handle. I work and go to school full time. It is my last quarter at university before I graduate and I have not been able to focus on any of my work. I cannot even begin to imagine how my father feels. He says he is okay and wants to take it one day at a time but I feel like he is struggling. He has been recovering from the surgeries really well but I can tell he is worried about the chemo coming up soon. And it is not helping that people around him are trying to scare him away from chemo, telling him he does not need it, and giving their two cents when it was not welcomed (even though none of them have any medical affiliations/degrees/jobs).
We have an appt with the oncologist this Tuesday before he starts his chemo treatment. I was wondering what should we expect from Xelox as far as side effects and what preventative measures can he do to help ease them? And if anyone has advice on how I can be a helpful, supportive caretaker, anything would be helpful.
Thank you all!