Chemo: Round 9

Today I am receiving my ninth round of chemotherapy.  People often ask me how many rounds I will have to do, when I will be done with chemo, etc., but those are questions I can't really answer because we just don't know.   We don't know because, at least for now, there is no cure for stomach cancer.  About one week after I started chemo, I met with the on-call physician at Virginia Cancer Specialists.  In a rather curt manner, she told me I would be on chemotherapy until I died.  This wasn't really something I had talked about with my regular physician, so to hear her say that so bluntly was a little shocking.  I'm still hopeful all of this is going to work, that I'm going to be cured.

I started my first round of chemo on July 11, 2012 with the EOX protocol.  EOX is a combination of epirubicin, Oxaliplatin, and Xeloda given at three-week intervals.  Oxaliplatin is given intravenously over a two-hour period, then epirubicin is given via an IV push over about 5 minutes per syringe, and Xeloda is an oral drug taken twice daily for two weeks following chemo.

After six rounds of EOX, we switched my chemo to FOLFOX,  a combination of Oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and 5-FU.  5-FU and Xeloda are essentially the same drug, except 5-FU is given intravenously over a 48-hour period instead of taking pills for two weeks. 

I started my first round of FOLFOX at the end of November and am currently receiving my third round as I type.  This regimen is given every two weeks instead of three, and instead of taking Xeloda pills at home for two weeks, I wear a pump containing 92mL of 5-FU that infuses over 48 hours.  Then I go back to the infusion center when it runs out and they disconnect the pump.  It is a pain to carry the pump around for two days, but so far it is worth it because I can get the full dose in a shorter about of time and the FOLFOX regimen has considerably fewer side effects than EOX.   My hair has started to grow back.  I don't feel as nauseaus.  And I can manage low blood counts without stopping treatment.  Let's hope this one works.