Chemo break

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Trying
Posts: 250
Joined: Sun May 13, 2018 10:11 pm

Re: Chemo break

Postby Trying » Mon May 13, 2019 9:43 pm

My dr. and i decided on a 5 week break. Thanks to all who answered.

Nicole
38 yr old single mom of almost 2 year old at the time
April 2018 colon cancer stage IV 10 liver mets and peri met. Folfox and 12 rounds oxyplatin
Fec 2018 Down to 2 mets in liver. 8 dissapeared
July 2019 switched to xeloda pills as I prefer to 3 day infusion. Also on avistan
Oct 2019 emergency colostomy due to perforated bowel. ( unreal pain)
Feb 2020 show 2mm tumor increase.
Plan to go back on oxy
Oxy failed- irinotecan as of of Sept 2020

stu
Posts: 1613
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:46 pm

Re: Chemo break

Postby stu » Tue May 14, 2019 4:44 pm

Hi Nicole ,
Enjoy the break ! Have some rest and squeeze in some treats .
Stu
supporter to my mum who lives a great life despite a difficult diagnosis
stage4 2009 significant spread to liver
2010 colon /liver resection
chemo following recurrence
73% of liver removed
enjoying life treatment free
2016 lung resection
Oct 2017 nice clear scan . Two lung nodules disappeared
Oct 2018. Another clear scan .

Trying
Posts: 250
Joined: Sun May 13, 2018 10:11 pm

Re: Chemo break

Postby Trying » Tue May 14, 2019 5:44 pm

Thank you so much, Stu. Will be enjoying Mexico in a couple weeks too!
38 yr old single mom of almost 2 year old at the time
April 2018 colon cancer stage IV 10 liver mets and peri met. Folfox and 12 rounds oxyplatin
Fec 2018 Down to 2 mets in liver. 8 dissapeared
July 2019 switched to xeloda pills as I prefer to 3 day infusion. Also on avistan
Oct 2019 emergency colostomy due to perforated bowel. ( unreal pain)
Feb 2020 show 2mm tumor increase.
Plan to go back on oxy
Oxy failed- irinotecan as of of Sept 2020

Pyro70
Posts: 156
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:25 pm

Re: Chemo break

Postby Pyro70 » Wed May 15, 2019 9:06 am

Have fun in Mexico. It’s amazing how much better I feel when I go someplace warm. I’ve spent months pretty docile mostly in bed not feeling too well. Then I go to the beach and did this 2 days ago:
Image

I should really move. Not sure I’ll survive another winter...
Dx Jan 2017 stage IVB w/ PC age 35
FOLFOX
SEP 17 HIPEC 1, anastamosis leak
XELODA
MAR 18 HIPEC 2
JUN 18, ileo reversal and 2nd anastamosis leak

Pyro
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 7:40 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: Chemo break

Postby Pyro » Wed May 15, 2019 12:47 pm

It’s always warm in AZ!

My issue with chemo breaks is that it’s very difficult to go back on it, of course I’ve had 80 plus rounds.
Aug 2015- Stage 4 CC with liver Mets(38/m)
Sep 2015- Avastin/Folfox/Iron
Dec 2015-Not liver surgery candidate
Jan 2016- Erbitux/Folfiri, 2nd opinion at MDA in TX
Feb 2016 -MDA liver surgery
Mar 2016 -30% of left lobe rem, PVE
May 2016 - 70% of liver rem
Jun 2016-Rad
Jan 2017-perm colost @MDA
Jul 2017-Erb/FOLFURI
Nov 2017 -Lung & Liver ablations@MDA
Jan 2018 -Xeloda & Avastin mx
Jul 2018-Avast/FOLFURI
Sep 2018-Rad
Mar 2019 - Keytruda fail
Jun 2019 - FOLFURI
Aug 2019 - No more, quality time!

AmyG
Posts: 371
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2018 8:08 pm

Re: Chemo break

Postby AmyG » Wed May 15, 2019 2:44 pm

Pyro70 wrote: It’s amazing how much better I feel when I go someplace warm....Not sure I’ll survive another winter...



Dude, in the words of Jimmy Buffett:

I gotta go where there ain't any snow,
where there ain't any blow, 'cause my fin sinks so low.
I gotta go where it's warm.

So obviously the answers to all our woes are boat drinks! :lol:
42 dx @ 9wks pregnant w/baby #8 8/18
Sigmoid colon resection 9/18
Adenocarcinoma, G2, T3N0M0..or so we thought
KRAS/BRAF wild
Liver biopsy is malignant, stage iv now boys!
Delivered healthy baby 3/19
FOLFOX + Avastin 5/19
CEA 167 to 24 after 4 rounds
Liver resection 8/28/19
NED!! CEA 2.3
CEA 5.8 idk wtf is up with that, but everything else is clear!
CEA 3.7 make up your damn mind...
CEA 1.5 that's a new low!

stu
Posts: 1613
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:46 pm

Re: Chemo break

Postby stu » Thu May 16, 2019 3:56 am

Have a fantastic break .

That photo looks fantastic Pryo70 . We have big waves but rather chilly at times here in Scotland . Ha . Thankfully we are hardy . Straight after my mum’s liver resection she kayaked for the first time in the sea . We did give her a wet suit , took a few attempts to get it in the right way . She loved it .

Keep having fun ,

Stu
supporter to my mum who lives a great life despite a difficult diagnosis
stage4 2009 significant spread to liver
2010 colon /liver resection
chemo following recurrence
73% of liver removed
enjoying life treatment free
2016 lung resection
Oct 2017 nice clear scan . Two lung nodules disappeared
Oct 2018. Another clear scan .

rp1954
Posts: 1853
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:13 am

Re: Chemo break

Postby rp1954 » Thu May 16, 2019 9:32 am

Maintenance is about what is tolerable and effective long term. If you can get extra immune and chemo activity, especially to dissolve lesions somewhere, that would be a plus. There are dramatic, published patients' success series with improved maintenance regimes, e.g. ADAPT (Xeloda + Celebrex). I was impressed with some mCRC ADAPT patients' stop and start performance, although we decided absolute treatment continuity would be more important to us, for 8 years. My wife has now been on immunochemo vacation for 11+ months. There may be types of patients where ADAPT out performs xeloda plus Avastin, as did some of Dr Lin's earlier published work.

Our idea of maintenance is to enhance chemo activity further than that, and to improve the tumor, immune, inflammation and liver parameters as much as possible. We used UFT+LV instead of Xeloda, and a lot of selected high potency supplements. Several years out, we added celecoxib and immune modulating supplements to the stack, saw an improvement in chemo activity and tumor markers. Site by site we've picked off lesions, chemically and surgically. However my chemistry comments are most grounded on the CA199 - RAS/BRAF mutant/mixed - CEA axis ( + CSLEX1), common but deadly metastatic types in the national statistics that might be fewer % here.

My view is that we need to get oncologists, MDs and NDs' combined efforts to increase their simple, targeted, generic chemistries performance at the individual patient's level, beyond current daily Xeloda based formulas and weak tea supplements. BC has clinics that might be good for that.
watchful, active researcher and caregiver for stage IVb/c CC. surgeries 4/10 sigmoid etc & 5/11 para-aortic LN cluster; 8 yrs immuno-Chemo for mCRC; now no chemo
most of 2010 Life Extension recommendations and possibilities + more, some (much) higher, peaking ~2011-12, taper chemo to almost nothing mid 2018, IV C-->2021. Now supplements

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

Re: Chemo break

Postby NHMike » Thu May 16, 2019 9:52 am

I had two chemo breaks. One was for one week - my numbers weren't great, the side-effects weren't going away and I felt rotten. The other one was probably for a week as well and I don't recall the reason. It may be that I just didn't feel like doing it.
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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