My friend starts chemo today

Hi there- I am so sorry at the ordeal that your friend has gone through. You both must be so scared. It took me weeks to think things through without getting upset. It helps to keep a notebook of questions and answers that you might find from doctors, nurses or web sites. A general overview of colon cancer treatment such as on Web MD or perhaps in the resource library here may be a useful place to start.

Kanga and Jane are right in that we may be able to give more suggestions if we know more.

Although everyone responds to chemotherapy a bit differently, many people tolerate chemotherapy quite well. Different drugs have different spectra of side effects. I have been on oxaliplatin/Xeloda (an oral form of 5-FU) for 12 months with quite tolerable side effects, especially during the first 7 mths. It did take a few treatments before my doctor and I found the right combination of anti nausea medications so that I no longer felt queasy. Although I felt tired and did cut down my work hours a bit I did work most days.

Just being there to offer support is so helpful. One of my friends would come over with her silly dog. No matter how tired I was we always managed to go out for a walk, and I always felt better afterwards. Just knowing that friends and family are around if necessary was a tremendous comfort, even though I rarely needed help with driving shopping or other things.

Radiation therapy following chemotherapy is not commonly done unless it was a rectal tumor. Radiation can be used to shrink rectal tumors prior to surgery to make these tumors which are located in the narrower area of the pelvis easier to remove. It has also been used post operatively for rectal tumors. It is not commonly used for tumors higher up in the colon because radiation can damage the adjacent normal small intestine. Most of the small intestine is located outside the region of the pelvis, so this is much less of a problem when treating rectal carcinomas with radiation therapy.

Stage 2b is tumor still confined to the intestinal wall and my impression is that it has a reasonably high cure rate with resection. Chemotherapy is an additional precaution. That is an additional reason why I was wondering about radiation unless there tumor that extended to, or close to the margin of the removed segment of colon, that they are worried about the possibility of it coming back locally.

Please let your friend know that my thoughts and prayers are with her hoping that treatment goes smoothly and is sucessful.
Please let us know how things go.

Kris

Hi there and welcome to this site- hope you find it useful for information as well as support for both yourself and Julie. I too have what seems like stage 2 rectal cancer and am due to have it out next week (get more accurate staging after that). After that i will be starting the same regime as Julie with a week's chemo each month for 5-6 months. I had chemo and radiotherapy before surgery to shrink the tumour and it wasn't all that bad- some tiredness adn diarrhoea but that was mainly from teh the radiotherapy and it only stopped me working for the last two out of five weeks.

Julie's story doesn't sound that uncommon with the diagnosis not initially made on first presentation but it is incredibly fortuitous that it was found in the end. Stage 2 cancer has a very positive cure rate (often quoted in teh 90+% area) and she is having all the right treatmetn to give her the best chance possible. I am only 31 and certainly don't plan to spend teh rest of my life having treatments- I view it as an illness much the same as any other that I will have treatment for, get over and move on from.

Julie's reaction to some of the information on the internet is understandable- it is of an incredibly mixed quality and often difficult to interpret and understand. My wife and I are both doctors and have struggled to make sense of a lot of it ourselves. We have found this site much more useful as the knowledge and information is far more relevant and personal. I hope you have the same experience. Do try to encourage Julie to gain information and knowledge on her illness though, as it is very empowering and may give her back a sense of control over it a bit. I remember very well the initial feelings of being completely out of control adn at teh mercy of the cancer and those treating it.

Hope to hear more of her progress too as those of us still going through treatment can learn from her experience as well.
Keep in touch,
Steve

MUGGINS said:

SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR FRIEND. I'M IN A SIMILAR POSTION AS YOU. MY BEST FRIEND WAS DIAGNOSED FIVE MONTHS AGO WITH STAGE IV COLON CANCER. SHE ALSO SAYS INVESTIGATING THIS DISEASE IS TOO SCARY. SHE REALLY DOES WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT AT ALL. I HAVE FOUND THIS SITE ESPECIALLY HELPFUL ABOUT WHAT TO EXPECT - THE HIGHS AND LOWS AND ALL ABOUT POSITIVE ATTITUDES
AND STORIES. PLEASE HANG IN THERE AND AS YOU WILL FIND OUT MANY WILL KEEP YOUR FRIEND IN THEIR
PRAYERS.

Wow. My friend started chemo this week, and I was her researcher too cause I think it scared her. So far she's doing OK and to have something to do, all her friends have organized to do meals, housework, laundry, child cared etc. It helps us feel less out of control of this spectre called cancer. Good luck to your friend. This web site is full of great people. Go into the chat room in the evening for a lot of real time input. NFA