The Colon Club

Hi All, New here...My mom has been on Maintenace Chemo of 5-FU/Leucovorin for 3 years now...Has anyone had a problem with more frequent bowel movements??? This usually happens 3-4 days after disconnect...I'm getting worried it could be something more serious...Last scan was 3 Months ago and the tumor in her colon was stable...Any help would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance!!!

Paula

Hey there Paula,

5FU can do terrible things to the bowels. The worst part of it for me was terrible constipation, but other people I've spoken with get just the opposite. Has she had a recent colonoscopy? That's the only way to really see what's going on in there. A CT usually won't pick up anything in the colon until there's a good size tumor.

What treatment has your mom had other than chemo? She hasn't had surgery to remove the colon tumor?

hiker

Hi Hiker,

Thanks for the reply...Mom had surgery September of 2014...Removed part of colon, appendix, an ovary and fallopian tube...NED until Oncologist noticed a spike in her CEA to 30...This was discovered March of 2016...CT Scan showed a 4 cm mass another area in the colon...PET Scan showed no metastasis... Decided on chemo...Started Folfox on April 1st of 2016...12 cycles...Tumor shrunk...After Folfox she went on Maintenace Chemo regimen of 5-FU/Leucovorin infusion for 46 hours every two weeks...Stable scans everytime...CEA in the 3 range...

She has never had a colonoscopy...They only do CT Scans...

She's done great on both chemo regimens...Barely any side effects...Except some neuropathy from the Folfox...Only had to use nausea meds a couple of times...

I have noticed almost everytime after 5-FU/Leucovorin within 3-4 days her bowels go nuts for a day or two...She's actually had an issue ever since the surgery...Surgeon said this was normal...

But, the past two infusions...Two weeks ago and again this past Friday...Things are just worse...She's disconnected on Sunday...Last time problem started Monday...This time things were crazy starting yesterday...Pretty much in the bathroom within an hour of eating...

I'm her only caregiver and a bit of a worry wart...Hopefully, I'm just reading things into this...

@Paula,
My dad is on 5FU and leucovorin. The oncologist prescribe my dad loperamide hydrochloride for anti-diarrhea. However, my dad has constipation so we never use it.

@hiker,
What med or things did you do to help with constipation?

Thanks,
Nate.

Paula,

Is there a reason a colonoscopy is not being done? That's basic stuff and the only way to get a good look around in there.

Nate,

I tried just about everything to help with the constipation and the only thing to worked at all was Miralax. Take it the day before and day of infusion and it should help get things moving.

hiker

Lots of us have ongoing diarrhea. During folfox and afterwards. Since part of the function of the colon is to remove liquid from the stool, having less of it left means watery stools for many.

I don't understand the rationale of not removing the second tumor, but then I'm not a doctor. Where is the tumor?