Good News, Relatively Speaking

It's tough for Kevin to think of anything associated with chemotherapy as "good news." However, relative to how things go in that realm, there was good news this week. He is able to use a different chemotherapy for the radiation period.

He began chemotherapy again today in addition to the 5 day a week radiation treatments. He is taking Xeloda (Capecitebine) 5 days a week. Xeloda is metabolized by cancer cells (and some healthy cells too) into 5-FU, the intravenious drug Kevin was receiving last fall. Xeloda is supposed to come with fewer side effects.

Xeloda is taken as a pill. A fat handful of pills twice a day. For Kevin, it's 5 after breakfast and 5 more after supper. Lots of water throughout the day to help his body get rid of the drugs.

He's supposed to minimize the consumption of folic acid. Extra folic acid may encourage the Xeloda to stay in his system longer and, thus, increase side effects.

Check labels as you walk down your grocery aisle--folic acid is in a lot of foods. It's not easy to avoid so common sense is the simple rule. Don't eat 4 bowls of cereal a day, that sort of thing.

One of the side effects Xeloda is known associated with is hand/foot syndrome, a drying and peeling of hands and feet. It can become very painful very quickly from what we've read. There's some of that associated with the 5-FU Kevin was on before so he's already in the habit of moisturizing hands and feet a couple of times a day. The oncologist suggested slathering them up at night and wearing light weight socks and gloves to bed. Kevin's feet are cold and sensitive anyway so he's willing to go the sock route.

The gloves may take some talking.

The big plus with Xeloda is not having the constant infusion pump for 5 to 7 weeks of radiation treatment. 24 hous a day/7 days a week/5 to 7 weeks was going to be a physical and mental challenge for Kevin to endure the infusion pump.

And the hated port will not have to be accessed/used for this treatment period. It had become more itchy and sore throughout the weeks of treatment last fall. Kevin thinks it's partly his body complaining about the invasion and partly due to some leakage when the needle was removed each time.

So even though chemotherapy re-enters the scene, in the big picture the appearance of Xeloda is a good thing.