Stage B chemo

Hi all

I am 37 and from Melbourne australia.

I ahve just had the top half of my bowel removed from a cancer which was successful.

However i am concerned about the side efefcts vs the benefit of chemo using 5FU treatment with a PICC line and fortnightly cycles.

Has anyone been through this and make any recommendations. I am gogin to follow up with herbal remedies anyway to make sure I am doing the right thing by my body.

thanks

Peter

Before your questions can be answered. Please advise, How many nodes were checked and how many were positive? How big was the tumor? What was the grade of the tumor? Was the tumor on the left or the right side of the colon? What physical condition are you in now?

Some time when stage 2 or B cancer there is a gray area as to whether chemo is necessary. There is also a high recurrence rate with this stage of cancer when chemo is not utilized. This is a very hard decision to make and not to be taken lightly. You say you want to take what is good for you body. But I don't think you want to take a chance in having the cancer come back a year or two from now. Get allot of opinion's and research allot.

Good luck!

Hi

I think you have answered my question in that I should not take any chances.

Also, there were 17 negative lymph nodes and the cancer was 30mm or 1 and one quarter inches. Grade is G2 (moderately diff.). Lymphovascular Invasion present.

So you could say within thestage B I am more towards a C than an A.

Hope this helps. I dont have long to do any more research and I fear I should lean on the side of caution and take the treatment.

thanks

Peter,

I'm not sure if Xeloda is available 'down under', but that would be another option.  It is the pill form of 5-FU.  You take it for two weeks and then take a week off.  It would save you the PICC line.  The downside is that it is more expensive than 5-FU so some insurers in the US don't cover it.  I'm not sure about countries with national health care. 

Jack

 I tried to write another msg. so if you get two sorry. Yes I would do the fol fox treatment. Ask about that. If there is any lymphovascular involvement that means it has moved around and could be somewhere else also. The scans are good but they don't pick up on anything below a 5mm met so that dose not mean you are clear. I'm sorry to be a downer but this is very serious and should be taken that way.

Toni

Peter

 First of all, caution on the herbs mixing with chemo.  They can cause some serious problems and some herbal remedies can actually decrease the efficacy of the chemo.  Check with your doc before taking anything and be totally upfront with your medical professionals

As for the stage IIB thing.  If you had said you were a stage IIA, I would advise you to do the Xeloda (or 5FU/leucovorin) and not the oxi but as a stage IIB its a totally different story.  Studies show that when the two segments of stage II (A & B) are looked at separately, there is no statistical advantage for a stage IIA with no negative prognositic factors to have the oxi included in the chemo protocol.  However, albeit slight, there IS an advantage for the stage IIB patient.  Your tumor, by being classified as a IIB, has penetrated the colon wall and attached to an adjacent organ or tissue.  Had it not done this, it would be a different story.  You may want to talk with your doc about taking the oxi slow, seeing how you do on it and know his/her views on dose reduction and/or stopping the drug when the neuropathy symptoms become severe.  Before starting, sit down with the onc and get very specific with him/her.  Ask questions about what he/she considers severe with respect to the side effects - such as - how long the neuropathy symptoms should last between cycles,  how quickly the symptoms show up and where they are on the body.  For example, neuropathy symptoms that show up immediately in the facial area (exluding the throat) are generally NOT considered normal and require a dose reduction immediately.  I had symptoms after one dose which my onc said would be normal for a person after 8 - 10 doses and my oxi was discontinued immediately.  Pin your onc down on his/her opinions about this.  Ask all sorts of questions and write things down.

Jaynee