my husband's colon cancer recurred and a new kind of fight starts

Just chirping in here...
Hi Amy,

I'm not sure if my .02 cents will help since we all are dealing with the same disease, but different situations... so again, everyone's mileage and response will vary.

I was diagnosed with colon cancer back in Dec 2006. I had the colon resection surgery plus heavy duty intravenous antibiotic treatments since I the tumour had perforatted the intestinal wall, which then caused major perotonitis (infection of the abdomen). After healing from that hospital stay/surgery, I did 8 months of FOLFOX and 6 weeks of daily radiation (which doing the 6 weeks of radiation, I was put on Xeloda instead of the FOLFOX, then back on the FOLFOX once the radiation was finished. I finished that chemo in Oct 2007 and although I was diagnosed as Stage IV, the mets in my lungs were very indolent and just were too darn lazy to grow (hey, I'll take lazy cancer any day!!!)... so they kept close watch on me, but I went for 2 1/2 years of NO chemo, NO treatments. Life was good. This spring, those indolent lung mets started to grow, so I was put on Xeloda (that is the pill form of 5FU that your husband is going to be giving a try.

Like me, it sounds like your husband has had a nice long break from his chemo (?) which is why his onc is probably going to try him on the Xeloda. Normally, our systems are pretty smart and if one chemo stops working, then they will try something else. Both the 5FU and the Xeloda are pretty much the same thing so if one doesn't work, chances are the other might not either, BUT if he's had a fair length of time not being on the 5FU, then there's a good chance your husband's system might see the Xeloda as being a new med. When I started it in June, it worked GREAT for 3 months. Seriously.... the largest of my mets in my lungs shrunk 33% in three months on the Xeloda!! We were ecstatic to say the least!! But this last 3 months (Sept - Dec) my system I guess figured out we were fooling it and the cancer stopped responding to the Xeloda, and two of the mets have started growing again. Still, it is worth having taken it because I'm still further ahead than I was last June, what with the 33% shrinkage.

So now, my onc is going to have me take the Irinotecan. This is a new chemo for me, so I have no idea how I'm going to react to it. I have been warned by my oncologist and some of the folk here on the board, that there is a good chance I will lose my hair. I know, I know... hair is just hair and no big deal... but it is a big deal for us gals if we have never gone through it before. So I'm taking this break time to prepare myself for this very strong possibility. Also, the other three side affects I've been warned could happen are the 1) diarrhea, 2) nausea and 3) fatigue. I didn't really have a problem with diarrhea or even too much in the way of fatigue while on the FOLFOX. At least, I don't remember having problems with either... and I was very much active with our theatre community and working 2 Broadway musicals while on the chemo, which is why I feel fatigue couldn't have been a major problem for me. I also don't remember too much in the way of nausea, although I do remember feeling it coming on and a couple of puffs of my neighbour's wacky tobaccy and I could feel it dissolve away and I never did actually vomit at any time. Sooooo, I'm hoping that since I did have it fairly easy with the FOLFOX, that I will have it fairly easy with the Irinotecan. But I will keep everyone's words of advice, such as watching out for dehydration.

I have not been on Avastin, but that is on the back burner should any of these not work out. My onc did mention that another one we might try down the road would be the Ertibux... but she is going to have me tested for the mutant KRAS gene now, so that we will know if Ertibux will be an option for me. Others can tell you more about that test, but something about if you have the gene, then Eribux won't work... but if you don't have it, then they have had good results with it.

It's interesting how different oncs will suggestion different treatments. For instance, you say your doctor told you that they are not going to treat your hubby aggressively. I'm not sure what he/she means by that. If they are throwing three chemos at him, it sounds like that's a pretty aggressive plan, no? My oncologist told me that we aren't anywhere close to being in "dire straights" (my words, not hers) and that right now we are going to try one at a time to see which one works for me... down the road we can try combos, but we still have options. So, the way I look at it, as long as they have options and have drugs/treatments to throw at us, then the plan is still fairly aggressive.

I know I questioned... well, why not go in and use RFA on all the mets (that's where they stick a needle in a tumour and zap it with radio frequency waves and toast it to scar tissue). Why keep giving us all these expensive chemos when they could go in and zap them one tumour at a time (or a couple at each session). But she explained that that is not necessarily the route to go because a lot of the mets are very small, and we want to keep them that way. If we were going to go in and zap a couple at a time (with a good 6-8 weeks healing time before doing another session), then it would mean not being on chemo before/after the sessions, so it might mean going a year or more without chemo.... and those mets waiting to be zapped would then be given free reign to grown. Not to mention, without chemo in your system, there could be new growth popping up anywhere. So when that was explained to me, I totally understood why what seems like an easy/simple procedure to rid one of the mets, is not as simple/easy as it first appears.

So, I don't think either of you have to think "grim" yet. Yes, it is wonderful when we just do our treatments and then they are over... and we hope over for good (or at least for a very very long time). But alas, that's not the nature of our beasts The term "chronic disease" is just that... if we are going to have a chronic disease and have to deal with it on an ongoing basis, then so be it... we just have to adjust our psyche to accepting that we can still do what we enjoy doing in life, we just need to do it with ongoing medication or ongoing treatments

Keep us posted... I know I'll be really interested on how your hubby is doing and faring, since I'll be on one of the same chemos as he is.

Cheryl