Stop chemo after 2 cycles?

I had surgery for stage 3 colon cancer, and have completed 2 cycles of FOLFOX 6.   My disease was contained except for one "hot" lymph node.  The oncologist wants to do 12 full cycles (6 months) of chemo treatments.   I'm not sure how much additional "gain" there will be by going ahead with that amount of chemo.   Any comments from experts out there?

HI,

    So important to have this chemo as cancer cells can still be lurking, really need to kill them all...So please  take notice of your Dr as it could save your life...i

            Best Wishes  Rob

Hi there,

First, I'd discuss this with your oncologist.  He or she better knows the 'stats' on whether or not this is a good idea.  But the bottom line is that people are not stats.  And neither is cancer.   Personally, I'd want the extra chemotherapy, as cancer cells have a tendency to "lurk" and become active when you least expect it.

Paula Jean 

Hi, If you trust this doctor, I would follow his advice and get the chemo treatments. I've been fighting stage 4 metastatic breast cancer for 3 yrs and have gone thru extensive chemotherapy, hormone therapy and monoclonal therapy treatments. I'm glad I went thru all these options. As of July 25, 2009 I am cancer free. If you are unsure, then get a 2nd opinion. Don't wait to long as cancer doesn't stop progressing while you are waiting. And don't be afraid of chemo. there are a lot of medications out there to ward off the effects of chemo. the worst that happens is you lose your hair. I've lost my hair 2 times, but glad i'm alive to tell my story. I'd do it all over again if I had to just to be where I am today. Take care and good luck to you and your decision.

Kathy in Ohio

Bill,

You are getting "standard of care" treatment for Stage 3 colon cancer.  I'm not sure on the stats, but I would guess that your odds are slightly better of not having a recurrence on Folfox than if you just took 5-FU and Leucovorin, and your odds are slightly better on 5-FU and Leucovorin than if you didn't do chemo.  The choice to do chemo is always yours.  I did the full 12 treatments because I had 14 positive lymph nodes out of 36, but Folfox has left me with numb hands and feet and my cancer recurred anyway. 

If you are thinking of giving up the chemo because of side effects, consider a couple of things first.  1. can you adjust your pre-meds or pills post chemo to reduce the side effects. 2 Ask the doctor about reducing the dosage.  I found a 10% reduction did wonders for reducing my side effects.  3. Consider dropping Oxaliplatin and continuing on 5-FU and Leucovorin or moving to Xeloda.

I would recommend staying on some kind of chemo and the easiest way to do that is not having to deal with bad side effects.

Jack

My husband was stage 3 CRC with 1 positive lymph.  LAR with temp ileostomy 12/2008.  He did 8 folfox treatments that took 4 months.  He was beat down at 7 and the onco said he could skip the last treatment if he really wanted to.  He decided to go take the last chemo because if he does have a recurrance, he never wanted to blame him skipping his last chemo for it.  40% of stage 3 CRC patients will reoccur within 2 yrs, mostly in the liver, but rectal cancer also likes the lungs.  Its most important to do the follow-up chemo.  Please continue the fight and never be complacent when it comes to fighting this. 

Im in the same boat as you. I am told to do 12 cycles. Im soon going in for 6. I had a ct and it showed that the cancer is gone. I also want to stop. Im going to visit a colon cancer specialist at a research center. Just to make sure he agrees with what my oncologist is recommending. Im deffinetly ready to be done with treatment. As i know you must be also. Please continue to hang in there. I know it's rough but you don't want to go through this all over again. Possibly it could be worse a second time around.