Chemo every other week

Which chemo regimen are you receiving now, and on what schedule? Which aspects of it is your body not able to take?

Folfirinox is usually biweekly already as I understand it, and is not regularly prescribed to patients who are elderly or weak.

Gemcitabine + Abraxane is often administered weekly for 3 weeks in a row, with the 4th week off for a break. That gets you an average of 3 treatments every 28 days.

My understanding is the 3-on, 1-off recommendation for Gemcitabine + Abraxane is mainly just based on that being the regimen they have the most studies and data on. I don't know if it has ever been compared head-to-head with biweekly, but your oncologist should be able to tailor dosage and frequency to your needs.

I've been told some insurance companies are real sticklers if treatment frequency is prescribed more often than a Standard of Care treatment or at frequencies not supported by multiple studies, but you're asking for less (average of 2 treatments every 28 days), not more, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Maybe you could reach a compromise with your oncologist, and get a treatment every 9 days (average 3 treatments every 27 days) or a treatment every 10 days (average 3 treatments every 30 days). These would both slightly extend the time between treatments. Allowing 2, 3, or 7 extra days for your mind and body could be a big help.

I am on FOLFOX every other week for duodenal cancer. The oxaliplatin was pulled soon after the regimen began because of the side effects. As you can see, the regimen chosen by the doctor is dependent on the cancer, its progress and the medicine cocktail. Since the oncologist knows more about your case than anyone here, I would recommend working it out with them. Or, you can always go for a second opinion at a center of competence.

My husband is on every other week ,gets a chemo drug at the clinic then goes home with a pump with the F drug for 46 hours

I’m stage 4 and 66 y/o diagnosed with this metastasis to liver last Nov-Dec. My marker was up to 3840 when I started and considered my cancer aggressive so I’m getting the GAC combo 3 weeks on and 1 week off for 3 months (I started chemo in January). I too receive bone pain occasionally, and was already taking singular for underlying allergies and the chemo nurses at Hoag told me to keep on taking it; though I didn’t know why or bother to ask. I see posts where people are told to take Claritin (regular dose?) for bone pain so you might talk to nurses or dr about that.

I do treatment every two weeks. I had to go to that schedule and my recent PETScan shows it is effective! The three weeks on, one off was too hard on me(105 lb).

Than you makes me feel better, will see how my ca-19 numbers are, today is day 10 and I feel a little normal! Every other week would be 😊