Stopping Folfox after 8?

Hard decisions. I stopped the first chemo after ten treatments because CEA was climbing (not a choice). And I have permanent (we think) neuropathy in my feet. Not debilitating but certainly a major annoyance affecting walking and sleeping.

That being said I always trusted my oncologist's intuition and flollowed his call to the tee. 

Good luck and best wishes. 

My oncologist dropped dose of oxilaplattin a bit, it made difference like day and night in side effects.

Good Luck!

Did 8 rounds and my neuropathy was permanent.  I'd made a comment to my oncologist about my symptoms and she told me that "it was only a nuisance."  When seeing her last my visit my statment to her was "I'm suffering because I'm not able to feel my hands and feet and it's much more severe than you thought."  She told me "yes, we've gotten some statements about that.  She wouldn't reduce my oxy and that's what made me now dependent on Gabepetinen everyday.  You need to do what is right for you.  Wishing you well.

Kim

When I was 1st diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, I had surgery then they prescribed 12 infusions of Oxaliplatin and Xeloda. At the 8th session my nueropathy got so bad I was numb to my knees and my fingers were completely numb. My oncologist was very concerned about stopping my treatment at 8. She said I had an agressive tumor and wanted to go with the full treatment. She referred me for accupunture. I had 38 sessions of accupunture. Starting before I finished the chemo. By then end of the 38th session I had all the feeling back in my fingers and most of the feeling back in my feet. It has been 5 years and to date the only issue I have is a bit on the very ends of my toes and a spot about the size of a quarter on the ball of each foot. I make sure to wear good fitting shoes and I walk every day to keep my nerves alive. I am not sure going the full 12 helped. I have since had to recurrences. My 2nd recurrence was followed by surgery and then 6 months of a different chemo. My oncologist didn't want to use the same thing and risk more neuropathy. Plus she wanted to be more aggressive. I was honestly sick for 6 months. Could hardly get out of bed. Kept telling myself I was ensuring this evil cancer didn't come back. About 15 months later it did. This time we did surgery but no chemo. I have been NED for 14 months now. In fact, just starting my round of tests. Sitting here today waiting for some test results. I guess where I am going with this is, no one, including your oncologist has a crystal ball. I think you have to be an active player in your treatment. Researcha and get the facts to the best of your knowledge and then work with your Dr. to find the best treatment for you. I would suggest if you are dealing with horrible neuropathy you ask for accupunture. I firmly believe it made all the difference for me. Blessings.

MAlice

There may be different protocols for different stages and  conditions, but for whatever reason, my onc   decided on 8, not 12,  neoadjuvant treatments with  FOLFOX plus Avastin for my Stage 4 with liver mets, followed by  radiation  with 5FU. Turns out the  chemo and radiation shrank the tumors  so that they were not seen on CT scans and I avoided surgery, although it's been just over two years now and surgery  may be back on the table in the near future.  I was one of the lucky ones as far as side effects from the  FOLFOX, but that may also be because of the premeds I received before the infusions to prevent nausea, etc. Also,my onc told me to not ever let my hands and feet get cold, so I wore socks all the time and gloves whenever I  touched anything cold. I was also told not to eat or drink anything ice cold- something hard to do in Alabama in the summer, but it paid off and I  had minimal problems. I do have some mild neuropathy in my feet but it's more annoying than debilitating or painful. Edited to add that I did  have a problem with low white blood cell counts while on FOLFOX and  needed to take Neupogen shots during the treatment.