Stage IV Colon Cancer

jehremy
jehremy Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I was diagnosed in April 2002, had a colon resection, chemotherapy including CPT11 and more recently including oxalyplatin. At first it seemed to work, but CT scans said otherwise. The oxalyplatin was too much for me and I am now on Xeloda which is an oral 5fu. It appears to be doing no good and my tumors are increasing in size. I have no appetite, have lost 50 pounds and continue to lose. I am extremely tired all the time, have abdominal pain and am very miserable. I would like to enjoy what time I have left, but am having increasing trouble in doing that. The doctor has no real answers. I wonder if there are any answers. Has anyone else experienced this and do you have suggestions?
Jehremy

Comments

  • Miss_Kate
    Miss_Kate Member Posts: 5
    #2
    Jehremy - My thoughts & prayers are with you as you go through this difficult time.
    My father (70 yrs old at the time)was diagnosed Stage III almost 5 yrs ago and made it through his chemo & actually gained weight.
    I had him drinking 1 protein shake a day, along with vitamins. In your case, I would drink two protein drinks daily right now (incidentally I made him drink it whether he had an appetite or not!)
    The protein I had him on was MetRx - 38 grams of whey protein in each shake (most grams in any drink I found). I found it at a local CVS drugstore, but they also sell it at other nutritional outlets. Mix it with 16 ozs of milk in a blender - thick rich chocolate shake. Also added some "Multidolphus" live cultures to the shake (bought at the local health food store). These are the intestinal bacteria you need to help you digest your food.

    Daddy (now 75) just had a recurrence of the cancer in some small nodules in his lungs. Just started chemo again this week. Needless to say, I've put him on the MetRx immediately.
    I hope this info helps.
    May God bless you.
    Miss Kate
  • SWilkin676
    SWilkin676 Member Posts: 2
    #3
    My husband also has Stage IV colon cancer. He is in chemo now and his CEA has been going down. So, I have been investigating other options for potential treatment of the many tumors he has in his liver. There are some interesting options that do not involve chemo. Do a web search on Therasphere. It involves injecting microscopic radioactive glass particles into your liver. I have seen other clinical trials that involve using targeted delivery of cancer killing substances. Suggest you start looking at clinical trials at cancer.gov
    Good luck
    Susan
  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #4
    Jehremy -

    I am a CC survivor. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Hang tough and don't give up your attitude!

    Have you heard about Essiac Tea? I have read about it but not tried it. I have several survivor friends who swear by it. I won't go into a long dissertation on the tea's history (available on the internet; just run a google search on essiac and you'll get several pages of hits)- it sounds like snake oil, until you start looking at the number of people who claim it helped them.

    Jehremy, hang in there and don't give up the ship.
  • veggies4u
    veggies4u Member Posts: 2
    #5
    Jehremy, my good friend was experiencing similar symptoms for stomach cancer, no apetite, fatigue, and total energy deprived until I suggested he look at a product calld JUICEPLUS+, his sister called me and said this is the best he's felt in weeks(just after five days) on the product, go to https://www.juiceplus.com/+mt86950 and get additional info there, it's worth a try you can beat this disease!
  • Peg
    Peg Member Posts: 1
    #6
    Jehremy,
    My husband (age 49) was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer in October 2001. He had 80% of his large intestine removed with initial surgery then entered into a Clinical Trial.The drugs he was administered were Oxalyplatin and CPT11. He was able to take 8 treatments before he could no longer withstand the side effects and was taken out of the trial. The side effects were severe abdominal pain and diarrhea. He had to go into the hospital for 10 days for this. However, after much prayer and several scans, it was determined that the 8 lesions that were on his liver had actually shrunk in size. The surgeon opted for surgery to remove the lesions and was able to get them all -- Praise The Lord! At the beginning of the trial he weighed 225 lbs and following the liver surgery, which was in June 2002, he weighed 180. He took 8 weeks off to heal and recover and then began 6 cycles of "preventative chemotherapy", which consisted of 5FU and CPT11. He finished that up in March 2003. However, following a series of scans and x-rays, just a few weeks ago, a small lesion was discovered in his left lower lung. We have started chemotherapy again using 5FU, Adriamycin and Mitomycin. We are still fighting the battle.

    The abdominal pain you are experiencing is probably from the Oxalyplatin. We were told that with time, this would get better, which it has. My husband has not experienced a loss of appetite and has gained back to 220. He takes Flax Seed Oil everyday. Look it up on the internet, it might be helpful to you as well.

    Hang in there and know that our prayers are with you. We were told at the initial diagnosis in October 2001 that my husband would not live 1 year, but he is still here fighting today.
    Peg

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