Hi Ron,
I too am from Colorado (Wheat Ridge) and just finished my 12 FolFox treatments last month. I received 10 Oxa treatments and had to stop because of the numbness in palm of hands, fingers, and feet. I am 49 years old and had colon cancer on the right side. They removed about 6" of the colon. Will get my port out next week as it is causing alot of pain as it did throughout the whole treatment. Anyway, yes the numbness is a bit of a challenge. :-) Can't backpack, hike, walk, bike or any of the things really like to do. Hope next year will bring back those activities.
Wanted you to know that I just read most of the message boards on this subject. Here's a summary in my opinion.
The drug is pretty new (FDA released it in June 2004). So not much out there on trends and treatments that really work.
Some really good threads on this site though. Particulary liked the thread under "Cancer/Colon" entitle "Peripheral Neuropathy" date 11/3/2005. (9 posts)
And the one under "After Treatment/Side Effects"
"Neuropathy from Oxaliplatin" date 2/1/2005. (17 posts).
I just started the L-Glutamine as recommended from the Peripheral Neuropathy post. I have definately backed off of my expecations for recovery as I saw that a lot of the folks have been off Oxal for over a year. So I'll re-adjust my timeframe and hope for the best. (It's hard to type as I can't feel the little bumps on the F and J keys. So I have to retype alot.) Fingers get pretty sore if I use them too much as well as the feet. Don't wear shoes or socks (padded soft slippers do the trick).
I feel very blessed to be here and appreciate all the support from the care givers and also from resources like this page. Thanks for your story. I will write more as I learn more as I plan to continue researching.
God Bless.
LeRoy