Chemo starting next week, have some questions

call med ins company and ask
call med ins company and ask for case manager to assist you and spouse for up coming treatments, how they will be covered, what will be covered, what your responsible for. If your spouse is part of a study, find out what study covers, if ins will contribute, and what your part is. Their is a billing dept at the DR office/center that can answer how each procedure, medication, and treatment is coded and submitted to med ins co. From there you can find out from either case mg or a manager/supervisor in claims dept what is authorized and if and what your responsible for.

If you hear about magnesium studies and they tout
Magnesium and Cancer - How Magnesium Cures Cancer and
Magnesium, The Nutrient That Could Change Your Life:

then i would question their claims. If on the other hand, if you see articles like the one below, then it can be beneifical

In Colon Cancer Patients, Calcium and Magnesium Reduce Chemo Neurological Side Effects

http://www.endonurse.com/news/2008/06/in-colon-cancer-patients-calcium-and-magnesium-re.aspx

Researchers in the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) have shown that patients who receive intravenous calcium and magnesium before and after the chemotherapy drug oxaliplatin for the treatment of advanced colon cancer experience a significantly reduced incidence and severity of neurological side effects (neurotoxicity). This reduction increases the likelihood that patients are able to complete a full course of treatment. The findings were released May 15 as part of the 44th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

"There have been limited studies and anecdotal stories about the effectiveness of calcium plus magnesium in reducing neurotoxicity caused by oxaliplatin," says Daniel Nikcevich, MD, PhD, an oncologist at St. Mary’s Duluth Clinic in Duluth, Minn., a member of NCCTG and study co-chair.

"We designed a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that confirmed the effectiveness of calcium plus magnesium in reducing debilitating neurological sensitivity associated with oxaliplatin, such as pain in the hands, fingers, feet and toes. In the past, these side effects have caused patients to stop treatment and, therefore, not receive critical therapy."

Each year in the United States, 150,000 patients are diagnosed with colon cancer, and approximately 50 percent of those develop advanced colon cancer. Oxaliplatin, in combination with other chemotherapy drugs such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), has emerged as a standard of care of first-line therapy for advanced colon cancer. However, oxaliplatin can cause both acute and chronic cumulative sensory neurological problems including pain, numbness and tingling that can prevent patients from completing treatment.

In the study, 50 of the 102 patients enrolled received intravenous calcium and magnesium along with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, while 52 patients received oxaliplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer and an intravenous placebo. Study results showed that the use of calcium and magnesium infusions before and after oxaliplatin was associated with a significant decrease in the incidence and severity of neurotoxicity, and it also delayed the time to the onset of neurotoxicity on oxaliplatin therapy.

Calcium and magnesium are an easily administered, safe treatment option for oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity. "Some initial reports from other studies claimed that the use of calcium and magnesium reduced the activity of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy," says Axel Grothey, MD, an oncologist at Mayo Clinic and study co-chair. "However, we have definitive results from an independent, blinded radiologic review that demonstrate no negative influence of calcium and magnesium on the outcome for oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy."

"Now that we have shown the effectiveness of calcium and magnesium in reducing oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity, a further step may be to evaluate the benefit of calcium and magnesium in reducing neurotoxicity caused by other medications," says Nikcevich. "Many other commonly used chemotherapy agents cause neurological sensitivity. By applying our study design, we can test the effectiveness of calcium and magnesium when used with other treatments."

This study was done as part of a program coordinated by Charles Loprinzi, MD, a medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic Rochester. The program he leads has conducted more than 50 clinical trials designed to find ways to prevent or treat untoward symptoms related to cancer and cancer therapy. This includes three trials to evaluate ways to treat established neuropathy caused by chemotherapy and three additional studies to try to prevent such toxicity. Additional trials are in development to find other ways to alleviate this toxicity.

Source: Mayo Clinic

okthen said:

Hi Craig!
I talked with the
Hi Craig!

I talked with the Onc nurse today. She told me "No"...they do not give the mag anymore, they used to, but didn't see that it helped. I asked her if we could request it and she said "it just isn't part of our treatment, here...not sure if you could receive it at another facility". )o:
We meet DH's new Onc tomorrow ( Switching to be closer to home, same center, just a satellite office) I will ask him, I will BEG him to let us give it a try.

Hubby decided against the study...it was all I could do to get him to agree to get Chemo (looooong story) so I chose not to push the study...sometimes ya just gotta give. (o:

the nurse said it didnt
the nurse said it didnt help? studies show it does make a significant difference for many, see my post above. Were you able to find out the charges of the meds and treatments that you were concerned about?