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Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2021 8:39 am
by Hooandtrue93
My mom is feeling the effects of the FOLFOX after 4 cycles and brought up maybe taking a break after 6 cycles. Her CTDNA was positive prior to chemo and will be reassessed after the 5th cycle. Ultimately it is her treatment and her decision. I was wondering if anyone else had taken a break in the middle of their adjuvant chemo but then resumed treatment after 2-3 weeks?

I've also been looking into things that can help with side effects and keeping her in top shape during chemo (on top of the medications already prescribed). I saw that CBD oil can help and also requesting fluids when you get your port flushed helps. Any other tips would be great

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 3:09 am
by stu
It’s rarely straightforward. A small break helped my mum considerably. Got her through it all really !
I wish your mum well !
Stu

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:59 am
by boxhill
My oncologist told me that very few people get through the full 12 cycles of FOLFOX without having to lower the dosage or take breaks to let platelets rise up to treatable levels. Including in the original studies. This is, of course, different from taking a break because of severe side effects or just plain feeling lousy.

I personally tolerated FOLFOX better than many, and although I felt progressively crummier as time went on--I recall telling someone at coffee hour after church during round 8 that I had to admit that it was really wearing on me--I never felt that I wanted to pause, in fact I found the platelet pauses frustrating. I just wanted to get through it as quickly as possible.

What side effects does your mother have, and how bad are they? Some of them can be ameliorated to some degree--nausea, cold sensitivity, diarrhea, depression, even loss of appetite perhaps--but fatigue is something that I think you just have to allow yourself to feel and give yourself permission to rest as much as you need. I don't know how some people keep going to work. I can only imagine what it feels like to take care of young children who are too young to understand when every atom in your body seems to be screaming that you need to lie down on the sofa NOW. I had the luxury of just concentrating on doing chemo, without a lot of other demands on me. If she's developed low ANC, there's Neulasta. My NP recommended that I eat a rare steak during the second week of every cycle to combat my incipient anemia. (It worked!)

Another thing to consider is whether a 2 or 3 week break would actually make her feel any better. I know that when I was forced to take 2 weeks off at once for blood counts I didn't feel any different. I wouldn't count on a short break helping much, and then she probably has to go back and finish it.

She can reassess after her round 5 test, talk with her oncologist. Some people just do a shorter course for adjuvant chemo. There's research out there about it.

My best to you both.

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:24 pm
by saltygirl
Taking extra week off is no big deal. I wouldn’t stop treatment for longer than that. I agree that she will not start feeling overall better until few months after she completed treatment. I would motivate her to complete her treatment ASAP.

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 2:37 pm
by Real Tar Heel
I handled FOLFOX pretty well but a scheduling mishap caused me to miss a week. Now that I look back I wonder if that was a negative? Did that give the cancers time to mutate to protect themselves?
I didn't finish the Oxy but finished the 5FU. Had a recurrence within months, so the FOLFOX had probably already stopped working.

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:57 pm
by Nor Cal
Short breaks are likely due to side effects, so if she can power through I'd definitely encourage that.

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:46 pm
by Hooandtrue93
Thank you all so much for your input.

After her 5th cycle she spent that weekend in the hospital due to intense nausea, issues eating, high pule rate (117) and high blood pressure (169/90). She was severly dehydrated and her nausea was intense. Her x rays were clear/no obstruction noticed. They were able to hydrate her over the weekend and give her a new nausea medication which is working beautifully. She had slight dose reduction for her 6th cycle.

I believe she gets her scans done this week so we'll see. A lot of anxiety and im praying for the best but also preparing for the worst (been heavily researching clinical trials, methods such as radioablation and proton therapy, drugs like devimistat and Leronlimab), especially since her ctDNA was positive pre-chemo.

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:48 am
by Siti
My husband had a break (he was hospitalised due to severe cramps and fever) and he also had a his dose lowered.

I wish your mom good results for the scan!

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:07 pm
by DanNH
My wife had to switch to Folfiri during Infusion 5 due to a reaction to Oxaliplatin. She gets a bag of IV fluids from time to time at pump disconnect. The infusion office told her to come in for fluids even during the off chemo week if she felt dehydrated.

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:22 pm
by Hooandtrue93
DanNH wrote:My wife had to switch to Folfiri during Infusion 5 due to a reaction to Oxaliplatin. She gets a bag of IV fluids from time to time at pump disconnect. The infusion office told her to come in for fluids even during the off chemo week if she felt dehydrated.


Yeah they set it up now so my mom gets hydrated twice a week, even on weeks when she is off chemo.


Praying/keeping your wife and yourself in my thoughts (all of you reading this really).

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:01 am
by Hooandtrue93
An update: my mom's ctdna cleared at the halfway point which is good (especially since her starting ctDNA was really high at 30.61 mtm/ml which is very much on the higher end post surgery). However she is going to finish the 6 months of adjuvant which I fully support.

Still nowhere out of the clear and ctdna can't pick up dormant cells that aren't growing and could grow in the future, only the irradication the micromets already growing. But I am going to celebrate this day. It's a much needed win and gives us some room to work with down the line.

Re: Has anyone taken a break from chemo in between their adjuvant chemo?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:55 pm
by beach sunrise
Very good news!