Stage 2 - chemo or no chemo

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  • annalexandria
    annalexandria Member Posts: 2,571 Member
    #22
    Teachmisskim said:

    Thank you everyone!  I have

    Thank you everyone!  I have decided to go through with the chemo.  For those that had 5 FU did you have much hair loss?

     

    I've also started to blog, feel free to read if you'd like.  I've even included pictures :)

    http://teachmisskim.blogspot.com/

     

    No hair loss for me,

    at least not with FOLFOX/Avastin.  It didn't even thin.  But it seems like everyone reacts differently (although I was told that significant hair loss is very rare with this particular chemo).  Keep us posted on how you do~Ann Alexandria

  • Helen321
    Helen321 Member Posts: 1,459 Member
    #23
    I learned a lesson so my vote

    I learned a lesson so my vote would be chemo.  One round is really not so bad although some people get stuck with permanent neuropathy.  I was lucky enough not to so easy for me to say but if I could go back in time, after my first surgery, I would have done chemo and been done with this.

  • Helen321
    Helen321 Member Posts: 1,459 Member
    #24
    Teachmisskim said:

    Thank you everyone!  I have

    Thank you everyone!  I have decided to go through with the chemo.  For those that had 5 FU did you have much hair loss?

     

    I've also started to blog, feel free to read if you'd like.  I've even included pictures :)

    http://teachmisskim.blogspot.com/

     

     . . .While doing chemo, no

     . . .While doing chemo, no one was even aware I was sick unless I told them.  No weight loss, no hair loss (it's very rare with this type of chemo), however, I had to wear gloves to the supermarket when I did the oxilaplatin and I was religious with the antinausea pills.  The discomfort went away after I was done.  I'm back to normal.

  • darlad
    darlad Member Posts: 18
    #25
    Helen321 said:

    I learned a lesson so my vote

    I learned a lesson so my vote would be chemo.  One round is really not so bad although some people get stuck with permanent neuropathy.  I was lucky enough not to so easy for me to say but if I could go back in time, after my first surgery, I would have done chemo and been done with this.

    Stage 2 - took chemo -not sure I would make same decision

    I was 48 when diagnosed with high risk stage 2 colon cancer and I elected to join a study group. One arm of the study receives chemo and the other did not. Due to me having high risk, I was placed in the chemo group. I started chemo doing OK (FU5 and Oxaliplatin) and then in the final 3 months of chemo I had pancreatitis a couple days after chemo ended. I went inpatient, not eat for three or four days until the pain reduced. Chemo ended in May of 2011. I still have neuropathy in hands and feet. My hair has grown back in actually thicker than it had been previously. For some time after chemo ended, I couldn't place the right words together and had short term memory problems. I struggled at my work for the 1st year after chemo.  Now doing better and able to concentrate again.

    Everyone deals with chemo differently but if I had to go it again… I would hesitate and ask more questions like what is the outcome percentage difference between taking chemo versus not taking chemo. Several articles that I have read indicate that there is no evidence that adjutant chemotherapy reduces reoccurrence.

    Truth is that I likely would have made the same decision to take chemotherapy; I was really frightened and wanted to do everything possible to reduce the odds of reoccurrence. I just wish that I had slowed down and asked more questions. The chemo was harder on me than I originally expected.

    I still really don't know why I was high risk for reoccurrence. I assume a test came back with markers that suggested this but I never asked. Looking back, I just received the information and charged forward.

    It just seems stage two must not be quite as bad as I had originally thought.  Now I see the doctor every 6 months and have a CEA level.  My CEA was never high to begin with and I wonder how this test will catch a reoccurring problem.  They don’t even take Scans.  It just seems like not much is done for stage two, after chemotherapy, unless you are having symptoms.  It just makes me question was chemotherapy even necessary.   

    My advice is for you is to request copies of your lab, scan and operative reports.  Sit down and really understand what is being said to you.  Ask questions and make an informed decision of what your trusted physician is saying and proceed with what you and your doctor feels is best for you. 

     

     

     

  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #26
    To Chemo Or Not To Chemo....

    That's the question alright...

    I've done it all different kind of ways.....but always chemo on the back end.....and still recurred....have had it 3x in an 8-year time frame.

    When you first start, you want to believe that doing chemo will 'insure' you won't get it back.

    But, there's no way to know whether it will come back or not.....just doing chemo for the sake of prevention is not really the answer.....time always makes the determination.

    When you first start out, you want to do everything you can.....and truthfully, that is not a bad strategy....I tried it like that and still recurred.....with exercise, with diet, with chemo, with radiation, with surgery(s).

    And still......

    The further you get out with cancer, you have to start being more selective and not just pull the trigger every time......

    The prevailing theory (that holds a great deal of merit) is that if there is NO visible evidence of cancer and you got clear margins, then it may be prudent to hold off using up all of the big stuff, in case you have to address a solid tumor mass down the road.

    Chemo does not cure cancer....so just taking it for the sake of hoping that it gets everything is something to keep in mind.  The body is circulatory and is therefore a moving target...and as such, this makes it hard to hit while moving.

    Throwing chemo at the body (without visible evidence) is alot like trying to put a fire out with a garden hose....

    You hope where it splashed put the fire out...but cancer cells know how to hide - and how to adapt.  That's where the problem is.

    It's not as easy as that, or many of us would not experience Recurrence. 

    I was a Stage IIb that became a metastatic Stage IV......and despite trying all the things I mentioned. 

    There really is no way to know....if you're new to it and fresh, you might consider it.....and if you were to recur ever again, your though process might change somewhat, or maybe not. 

    This is the question that none of us can ever answer.

    I saw a comment on this thread that said do it and be over it....like it was never going to come back again.  

    While that is a possibility, there is also a strong probablilty that the cancer might still return. 

    I've had to hit mine 3 different times now to reach the longest remissive state of my 9-year battle.

    Sometimes once is just not enough.....and sometimes doing everything still doesn't guarantee absolute results. 

    But, all you can do is try....that's all that any of us really do.

    Whatever you do, just don't look back with regret (one way or the other).  You have to make decisions along the way....all is a risk and a gamble.....we roll the dice....and live with our decisions that we make or are made for us...and try and do the best that we can.

    Best of luck with your decision!

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