March 3

SHORT REPORT: The pump came off last Friday - I am still feeling tired and nauseous, but the fatigue is not as bad as it was with the oxaliplatin. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t feel a LOT better – but I’ll take what I can get - At least I can eat salad and ice cream! I plan to go visit my daughters in Dallas this weekend and hope to see my grandson’s soccer game – fingers are crossed! Next chemo is Wed., March 11.

MORE DETAIL:
Just FYI - Here is a summary of chemo treatments so far, and an explanation from my doctor about the chemo treatments, and why it is better to stop the Oxaliplatin . Each of the “reductions” and postponed treatments were due to low blood counts.

Treatments #1-4 Full dose, (11/5, 12/2, 12/17, 12/31)
Treatment #5 Oxaliplatin reduced from 85mg/m2 to 65 mg/m2 (1/21)
Treatment #6 Oxaliplatin reduced to 50 mg/m2 (2/4)
Treatment #7 No oxaliplatin (2/25)

"Clinical Trials that proved FOLFOX (5FU, Leucovorin and Oxaliplatin) given for 6 months was better than 5FU/Leucovorin alone. Older trials had initially said we needed to treat patients for 12 months, then a followup study said, no, we only need to treat 6-8 months for same benefit, then the MOSAIC trial came out stating FOLFOX was better than 5FU/Leucovorin over 6 months. It was shown that 3 year disease free survival, 5 year overall survival was better with FOLFOX. This trial was based on patients completing 6 months of treatment.
5FU/LV significantly improves overall survival after surgery, but adding oxaliplatin does increase it more. You got 3 out of the 6 months of treatment with oxaliplatin, so we feel you will get some of that benefit. We cannot know for sure how much,because the trial was not based on patients only getting 3 months of treatment. But we know some is better than none. We also know that the long term side effects of oxaliplatin can last and inhibit quality of life long after treatment has been stopped. Also, if your blood counts continue to struggle and we don't drop the doses, then you may have to stop treatment altogether and not get a total of 6 months of treatment, which would be a worse situation. " - straight from my doc for those who like technical explanations.

much love,
Sia