Dear Patience,
It would be very hard to comment without any information posted in the signature line, I like sunbeams too. My onc did a lot of expensive tests, that were not to my actual benefit. His fellows were well compensated, until I changed oncs. My bills went down nearly 75%, when I switched oncs. I am not saying you should do the same, but protocols do affect people differently. Many people get along well with Xeloda, and some do not handle it very well. I know Pete, Hart to Hart's husband, ended up in the hospital with Xeloda, and had to quit chemo for a couple of months. He started 5FU, and completed his rounds. I had a test made by my first oncologist after surgery. According to him, I needed Oxiloplatin, 5 FU, Ironotican, and Erbitux to stay alive after surgery and radiation. I figured as I had very little problems with FOLFOX, and he was a cancer foundation president, he was going to find out how far he could push me, before I finally had major side effects. This forum, after many nights and weekends of study, made me realize this guy was not for real. I switched oncs, and did 12 weeks of 5FU. I had an infusion every Friday (actually a push of 5FU and a push of leukovorin) that lasted 10 minutes. I did have blood drawn, and since I was low on iron, I had an iron infusion, making my session on Fridays, 1/1/2 hours. I had 6 weeks of that, 2 weeks off, and 6 more weeks. 5FU never caused me any problems whatsoever, except nearing the end I did experience diarrhea. My last chemo was about 1 year ago today, and I just had a CT. I am still cancer free, without the chemo cocktail my first onc wanted to kill me with
Regards,
Michael