Hand Foot Syndrome

[TinaFish]

I just started my Xeloda again today.

How are you doing Tina? I hope your treatment is getting easier and you're handling it well.

Doing really well, thank you for asking! I'm going in for round 5 of chemo tomorrow. Round 4 was the easiest thus far. It made a huge difference for me to stop taking the off-label meds that were giving me such horrible diarrhea. I've still had to take a "maintenance" dose of Imodium and Bentyl every day, just one pill a day of each, and then I still use the toilet 5-6 times a day, but other than that, I had many days these past three weeks when I felt totally healthy and "normal."

I had a scan a few days ago and I don't know the results yet, and I'm scared that I might hear bad news. But what are the odds of going through 4 rounds of chemo and not having an improvement, right? Those odds have to be super low. They wouldn't expect us to take these meds if they weren't effective??

[MeAndMine]

Everything about this is scary and worry is always there. I'm trying to get a better attitude about it. Worry won't change it, whatever it is but dang, the scanxiety is real! Hope you hear good news soon!

[Rock_Robster]

I just started my Xeloda again today.

How are you doing Tina? I hope your treatment is getting easier and you're handling it well.

But what are the odds of going through 4 rounds of chemo and not having an improvement, right? Those odds have to be super low. They wouldn't expect us to take these meds if they weren't effective??

For this I can only quote what my oncologist said to me - “there is no reason not to expect a good response to first-line chemo”. And he was right, after 4 cycles I had about a 30-40% reduction in size of the liver mets, then did 2 more cycles before surgery (after which I was told they were between 40% and 80% necrotic). All fingers crossed for a great outcome for you too!

Rob