How many of us are there only getting/or only got the 8 rounds of Fulfox?

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polarprincess
polarprincess Member Posts: 202
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I know it is typical with just the people who got radiation...i know there are a few on here but not sure how many. I had 2 cyles of Fulfox, then radiation and am supposed to get 6 additional treatments of fulfox of which i go tomorrow (monday) for round 6 of 8. My recommendations were to get chemoradiation and 4-6 months of systemic chemo which means 8-12 rounds of fulfox. No doctor has been able to tell me how they determine if they should do just the 8 or 12.. Even though my onc has told me we are just doing the 8, i have a feeling when we get to 8 the discussion is going to come up on whether or not to continue on. I could be wrong but just have a feeling. In my situation, because i had such bad side effects from the radiation, my first dose of fulfox after the radiation was a 30% reduction. The next cycle they had no leukovorin so i went without that, and the cycle after that i got fusilev instead of leucovorin, so wonder if those cycles even "count'
anyway, i was stage IIIa- 3 cm polyp with a T1 status moderately differentiated even though it was grade 3 of 4 which i don't get, and 1 lymph node positive of 27. For those of you who also got the radiation and only 8 cycles of fulfox, were there any specific reasons your doctor gave you for not going on to the 12? Thanks

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  • MoonDragon
    MoonDragon Member Posts: 183
    #2
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    Thanks for making me think about it!
    I had 8 rounds but I had my chemo and radiation simultaneously. This was after a few weeks of Xeloda which fried my insides so we had to wait for a healing period first before doing the FOLFOX. I think because of the damage to my insides from the Xeloda that more FOLFOX wasn't done. Other than that, it never occurred to me to ask. Good question. I'm seeing my onc tomorrow, I think I'll ask.
  • polarprincess
    polarprincess Member Posts: 202
    #3
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    MoonDragon said:

    Thanks for making me think about it!
    I had 8 rounds but I had my chemo and radiation simultaneously. This was after a few weeks of Xeloda which fried my insides so we had to wait for a healing period first before doing the FOLFOX. I think because of the damage to my insides from the Xeloda that more FOLFOX wasn't done. Other than that, it never occurred to me to ask. Good question. I'm seeing my onc tomorrow, I think I'll ask.

    hi
    you had the fulfox with the radiation? not just 5 FU with the radiation? That is scary about he Xeloda but good to know because if she recommended me to go on after 8 i was going to ask for Xeloda instead because i don't think i could take 7 more rounds on that pump. Let me know what your onc says... thanks
  • dorookie
    dorookie Member Posts: 1,731 Member
    #4
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    polarprincess said:

    hi
    you had the fulfox with the radiation? not just 5 FU with the radiation? That is scary about he Xeloda but good to know because if she recommended me to go on after 8 i was going to ask for Xeloda instead because i don't think i could take 7 more rounds on that pump. Let me know what your onc says... thanks

    I did 12 rounds
    Hi,
    I did 6 rounds, then I had my radiation and took the Xeloda then, after a few weeks to recover after radiation, I was back on the pump for the rest of the 6 treatments. From the beginning, my ONC said I was going to be doing 12 rounds, so there was never any mention of only doing 8. I alwasy thought that 12 rounds was the recommended treatment, but alot of people cant take all 12 treatments. Thinking that doing all 12 would give me a better chance of it not coming back, but that didnt help, it came back within a few months with mets to my lung. Had surgery, and now I am taking Xeloda, just finished my second round, two weeks on and one week off. SO far everything seems fine, it makes me sick, very tired and over all feeling like crap, but nothing compared to how bad the pump made me feel, so I consider myself lucky this time, well at least I am crossing my fingers I am lucky this time!

    God Bless
    Beth
  • keepnthefaith
    keepnthefaith Member Posts: 36
    #5
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    7
    I did 7 rounds of Folfox - with the dose reduced a couple of times because of drop in WBCs. My WBCs would not take a dive until the second week so I had to go on an every 3 weeks cycle for the chemo. Also had 25 radiation treatments at the same time I starte the Folfox. My oncologist said 6 months of chemo and ever how many treatments I could handle during that period of time was the number I would get. Finished up in December, 1st CT scan clear - so we'll see if that was enough as time goes on. I was dx'd Stage IIIa.
  • kmygil
    kmygil Member Posts: 876 Member
    #6
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    No Rads, but...
    Hi. I did 9 of 12 rounds of Folfox, but I didn't do radiation. I had to stop the chemo due to side effects; doc agreed. Premise is to cure, not kill with the chemo. I had to have the dosage reduced after #5. I have read that after some symposium, they are leaning toward 9 rounds instead of 12, since there has been no proof that 12 rounds has any additional benefit. So I wouldn't worry too much about the 8. But you should ask for the reasoning behind it, anyway.

    Hugs,
    Kirsten
  • tiny one
    tiny one Member Posts: 465 Member
    #7
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    chemo
    I had 5 1/2 weeks of chemo and radiation. Chemo was 24/7 with a pump, it was 5FU. I had one lymph node that tested postive, stage 3 colon cancer. Second course was for 6 months of chemo with oxiplatin. I would receive this twice a month. I would sit for about 3 hours, receive chemo then have the pump on for 2 days and then pump off. That would've been 12 treatments. I had some side effects. I was able to be active, like mowing my yard with a push mower, clean my house daily, the chemo never made me super ill. I'm not sure how they decide how many rounds of chemo someone will receive, I'm going to ask next time I go for a checkup. Good luck I hope your treatments are easy on you.
  • polarprincess
    polarprincess Member Posts: 202
    #8
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    tiny one said:

    chemo
    I had 5 1/2 weeks of chemo and radiation. Chemo was 24/7 with a pump, it was 5FU. I had one lymph node that tested postive, stage 3 colon cancer. Second course was for 6 months of chemo with oxiplatin. I would receive this twice a month. I would sit for about 3 hours, receive chemo then have the pump on for 2 days and then pump off. That would've been 12 treatments. I had some side effects. I was able to be active, like mowing my yard with a push mower, clean my house daily, the chemo never made me super ill. I'm not sure how they decide how many rounds of chemo someone will receive, I'm going to ask next time I go for a checkup. Good luck I hope your treatments are easy on you.

    8 rounds
    The reason for the 8 rounds typically with rectal cancer is because you receieve radiation as well and during the time on radiation you get 5FU every day for the whole 6 weeks, so it all equals 6 months total of chemo.. when you go past the 8 rounds you are getting into 8 months of chemo..and i have noticed both here and on the colon club that the majority of people who get radiation are only recommended the 8 rounds=particularly if they have low lymph node involvement. I have seen that those who have many lymphs involved or very large tumors do seem to get the 12 rounds on top of the radiation. My onc for some reason gives colon cancers patients that do not get radiation 14 cycles of chemo and she says that is the standard, and i have no clue where she gets that from because everywhere i have ever seen it is 12. I know back in 2002 sharon osbourne was stage IIIa and only got 3 months of chemo and she is "cured" so you have to wonder how much does a person really need..it seems like it either works or it doesn't.. some go through the 12 and it comes back anyway...
  • dixchi
    dixchi Member Posts: 431
    #9
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    tiny one said:

    chemo
    I had 5 1/2 weeks of chemo and radiation. Chemo was 24/7 with a pump, it was 5FU. I had one lymph node that tested postive, stage 3 colon cancer. Second course was for 6 months of chemo with oxiplatin. I would receive this twice a month. I would sit for about 3 hours, receive chemo then have the pump on for 2 days and then pump off. That would've been 12 treatments. I had some side effects. I was able to be active, like mowing my yard with a push mower, clean my house daily, the chemo never made me super ill. I'm not sure how they decide how many rounds of chemo someone will receive, I'm going to ask next time I go for a checkup. Good luck I hope your treatments are easy on you.

    Chemo
    We are all different in what procedure was done with the chemo it sounds like.
    For me, I had four FolFox treatments before surgery and eight treatments afterwards.
    Since I had some harsh side effects on the first cycle the 5-FU was gradually phased
    in on the last 8 and the Avastin was not used in four of the treatments due to
    healing from surgery. I will get my first report on Feb. 17 of blood work and CT Scan following
    the end of treatment Dec. 8 and will see how it is doing. My onc. debated whether or
    not to give me four more treatments or not because my last CT scan showed no problems
    and the CEA level was in the normal range so she decided to hold off on four more which
    would have been in total, counting the four before surgery, 16 treatments. Sometimes
    it seems this is more art than science!

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