Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

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Tajmir
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Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 5:14 pm

Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby Tajmir » Thu May 10, 2018 3:25 pm

Hi everyone, my wife was diagnosed with stage IIIa, Dukes C, T1N1M0 colon cancer after post op tissue analysis. She is now taking Xeloda and her oncologist suggested to add oxaliplatin to the therapy, 6 rounds. The reason being her age (40) and the very low number of LN examined, only 4 of which 3 were positive. Her post op PET CT was clean. The question that bothers me is that she will start with oxaliplatin more than 3 months after the surgery, and not at the same time with Xeloda which she started using 7,5 weeks after the surgery. Looked everywhere and did not see such a case or a protocol. The XELOX protocol always is Xeloda and Ox starting at the same time. Optimal beginning of adjuvant therapy is up to 8 week after the surgery. She started with xeloda within that period but she will start with ox much later. Any thoughts about this?

KElizabeth
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Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby KElizabeth » Thu May 10, 2018 10:42 pm

I've never heard of that. I wonder his reasoning.
I could see that it does give you some time to heal from surgery, but Im not sure. I don't think it's a bad Idea to do some Oxaliplatin to kill anything that may still be kicking around. I believe at least 6 rounds in the adjuvant setting is proven beneficial.
Female age 39- ,2 teens.
Colon Cancer - DX March 2013
Age 34 at DX - Stage III B
Resection surgery -May 2013
FOLFOX - June, 2013 to Sept, 2013
5FU plus leukavorin Sept, 2013 to Dec, 2013
METs liver and lungs discovered Sept, 2015
KRAS - MSS
FOLFIRI plus Avastin - Sept, 2015 - July 2017
Durvalumab and Cediranib Sept 2017 Dec 17
FOLFOX with desensitization protocol - current

Tajmir
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Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 5:14 pm

Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby Tajmir » Fri May 11, 2018 1:36 am

Thanks KElizabeth, I hesitate to ask him, but it might be that he just reconsidered his first intention to go only with Xeloda, because in the beginning only Xeloda was mentioned, and he added ox after reconsideration, a little bit to our surprise. Better late than never I guess, but I wondered is there any info on this, or any similar cases, and would it have a lower effect, which should be adding cca 5% chances to positive long term outcome.

Tajmir
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 5:14 pm

Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby Tajmir » Sun May 13, 2018 4:13 pm

I would appreciate if someone has a good advice or recommendation regarding side effects of oxaliplatin. My wife is to start receiving it in several days. So far we have been told about Zofran (ondansetron).

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

Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby NHMike » Sun May 13, 2018 8:39 pm

Tajmir wrote:I would appreciate if someone has a good advice or recommendation regarding side effects of oxaliplatin. My wife is to start receiving it in several days. So far we have been told about Zofran (ondansetron).


The term that I use for Oxaliplatin is "brutal". There are some few that have a relatively easy time of it from what I've read but most people have some pretty rough side-effects from it. I had my sixth and last round this past week and am glad to be done with this drug.

Side Effects:

Neuropathy in fingers and toes. This feels like tingling and it can be quite annoying. It takes me three times as long to type things as I have to keep correcting errors.

Cold sensitivity in the fingers, toes, eyes, cheeks, lips. If you live in a cold area or it's a cold time of the year, then this can be quite painful. Touching cold things can result in pain.

Closing throat - this is a sensation that you get in drinking cold liquids. It feels like your throat is closing up. It actually isn't tough.

Metallic taste in mouth.

Nausea. They normally give you something before the infusion to suppress it for three days but you can feel it after the meds wear off.

First Bite: the first bite you take of some food can be painful.

Painful tears: tearing can be painful.

Fatigue: the Xeloda can cause fatigue as well but I was often quite tired for a few days after the infusion.

If it is cold, then I'd recommend gloves, hat, clothes to cover exposed skin as much as you can. I wore a balaclava this past winter and also ski goggles so that I didn't have any exposed skin but we had subzero temperatures here this past winter.

Ginger can help with the nausea and my oncologist wrote me a prescription for anti-nausea meds.

Having warm to hot drinks available can help.

There are a lot of threads here which talk about the side-effects of Oxaliplatin because the side-effects are pretty rough.
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

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O Stoma Mia
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Location: On vacation. Off-line for now.

Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby O Stoma Mia » Sun May 13, 2018 8:55 pm


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ANDRETEXAS
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2014 11:01 am
Location: Austin, Texas (University of Tennessee alumnus)

Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby ANDRETEXAS » Sun May 13, 2018 11:42 pm

I can say that I did 12 rounds of FOLFOX, all with full oxaliplatin. If I had to do it all over again - I would. While there are many side effects, many of them can be controlled, so it should not dissuade anyone from using it if it's recommended to help. Andre
2/10/14 - Colon resect
2/13 - DX- Stage IIIb
6 of 18 lymph nodes cancerous
3/7 - Port placed
3/11 - FOLFOX (12 rds w/full oxi)
8/14 - Chemo finish
8/25 - CT- Inc
9/5 - clean PET
12/10- clean CT

3/2/15 - Clean colonoscopy & port removed
3/4 - clean CT
9/21- clean CT

3/23/16 - clean CT

2/22/17- clean CT

3/21/18 - clean CT
4/1 - clean colonoscopy

3/11/19 - clean CT
9/23 - Five-year release - Annual visits now !

4/13/23 - clean colonoscopy

ONE DAY AT A TIME !

Tajmir
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Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 5:14 pm

Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby Tajmir » Mon May 14, 2018 1:24 pm

Thanks everyone. I'm most worried about loosing weight because she is on a minimum of her adult life at the moment. She averaged around 60+ kg during most years. She is now on 57 kg and looks like a normal thin person. But further loss of weight will really give her scary look. Any other suggestions for nausea and throwing up? So far I was recommended Zofran (ondansetron)? Any experiences with that, does it work? Any other recommendations?

margiej
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:46 am

Re: Xeloda+Oxaliplatin questions

Postby margiej » Mon May 14, 2018 5:40 pm

Tajmir wrote:Thanks everyone. I'm most worried about loosing weight because she is on a minimum of her adult life at the moment. She averaged around 60+ kg during most years. She is now on 57 kg and looks like a normal thin person. But further loss of weight will really give her scary look. Any other suggestions for nausea and throwing up? So far I was recommended Zofran (ondansetron)? Any experiences with that, does it work? Any other recommendations?


It looks like the side effects are pretty much covered above. A fuzzy heating pad and an electric blanket helped with my cold sensitivity. I had to heat all beverages..even juice. Brushed teeth with warm water. I had pretty constant nausea ..zofran helped a little and ginger lozenges. A good friend is going through chemo for bladder cancer and after trying many different anti-nausea drugs that didn't work at all for her, has had the most relief from CBD pills. Wish I would have known and tried them. These are CBD pills from hemp, I believe, and were available at a natural food store, but I bet cannabis would be even better.
One reason I feel so ill was that I had a hard time drinking fluids and would get pretty dehydrated which makes nausea worse. So she should do her best to keep hydrated!
Best wishes to you both... She will get through this!
Margie
Dx CC 12/2015, age 57 at Dx
Stage IIIb: T3N1b
Adenocarcinoma, sigmoid colon, 2.5 cm - low grade, moderately differentiated
3/6 positive lymph nodes
laparoscopic colectomy 1/20/2016
Capox started 3/4/16 - Six rounds
CT-suspicious lymph 2/22/16
PET scan 2/24/16 clear
CT 6/8/16 clear
Clear Colonoscopy 3/2017 and 1/2020
CT 10/3/17 clear
CT 10/17/18 clear
CT 10/17/19 clear
CEA 12/17 1.7
5/16 3.8
7/16 1.9
3/17 1.3
10/17 1.2
4/18 1.6
11/18 1.2


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