What other therapies are recommended with folfiri chemo - Stage 4 CRC

Posted by iris0106 @iris0106, Jun 14, 2023

What other therapies are recommended with folfiri + bev chemotherapy?

My boyfriend (age 42) was diagnosed with stage 4 CRC in Dec. 2022. (KRAS g13d) Tumor has metastasized to mainly to liver, lymph in abdomen, stomach lining, etc. I would say median size for the tumors in liver are 7cm x 5cm, and there are a lot of them. We don't know how big the initial tumor in colon is, the scope could not go through during colonoscopy. We started with folfox chemotherapy which seemed to have worked in the beginning, but after about 8th session, the tumors in his liver stopped responding. We just received folfiri for our 12th session... and his doc says he is eligible for a clinical trial that uses folfiri as the base, but with the shortage of chemo medicine, not sure if this will happen. =(

His condition lately: Stomach looks and feels very bloated. We also had paracentesis (for abdominal ascites) done last week because he couldn't eat or sleep from the fullness of his stomach... this went on for about 3-4 weeks before getting the paracentesis. Afterwards, his hands and feet started swelling up. Doc told him that it's because he doesn't have enough protein and advised to take protein shakes. Swelling has gone down a bit after keeping his legs up and lymph massaging. But they still look huge. I think his liver is leaking a lot still. He hasn't been urinating much for the past month, but that has improved today. His bowel movements are on the both ends of the spectrum, either constipated or "going" every hour. Low energy on most days, naps 4-5 times a day.

I just want to know if there are any other therapies that can be combined with his chemo so that he can live... at the least, without pain. Is it too greedy to hope for a cure...?

Thank you in advance.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Colorectal Cancer Support Group.

I don’t know if this discussed here but have you heard of cannabis oil treatment?

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@melissakav

I don’t know if this discussed here but have you heard of cannabis oil treatment?

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No I have not, please do share! Has been done along with chemo to treat this cancer?

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@iris0106

No I have not, please do share! Has been done along with chemo to treat this cancer?

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Just Google RSO Oil. Not sure this is the forum for this type of discussion.

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Hello. I also have stage 4 colorectal cancer. Diagnosed April 2021. I don’t remember all the different chemo meds I was on. But I think their nickname was “fulfoxari” or something. Supossed to do 12 rounds, didn’t make them all as I got sick and had no immune system left. But I had proton radiation, and major surgery to remove the huge mass surrounding ny rectum, my rectum, part of my intestine, gall
Bladder, 25* lymph nodes, then another surgeon removed a large chunk of one side of my
Liver, and several wedges on the other side and they ablated some as well . My dr gave me an rx for medical cannabis. Made a huge difference! I could eat, sleep, my anxiety got better I also have a Holistic Dr. She had me drinking this “Tea”. And taking several supplements. Look up Dr Sebi fast or diet. My cancer came back in less than 6 months. I quit chemo because I was tired of being sick. My CEA number didn’t stop but slowed down quit a lot while I was following her regimen. I now have had another huge section of liver removed and will be starting chemo shortly here I assume. Getting harder to recover it seems. Hope you find something soon. I’ve never been the caretaker, but I’m sure it’s very hard. Thank you for being supportive. It’s very important. My bf chose to use my illness & volnerablehhgry refresh f Tyto his

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Could Also look up the new procedure they’re doing. Hepatic Artery infusion pump.

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@cheyna23

Hello. I also have stage 4 colorectal cancer. Diagnosed April 2021. I don’t remember all the different chemo meds I was on. But I think their nickname was “fulfoxari” or something. Supossed to do 12 rounds, didn’t make them all as I got sick and had no immune system left. But I had proton radiation, and major surgery to remove the huge mass surrounding ny rectum, my rectum, part of my intestine, gall
Bladder, 25* lymph nodes, then another surgeon removed a large chunk of one side of my
Liver, and several wedges on the other side and they ablated some as well . My dr gave me an rx for medical cannabis. Made a huge difference! I could eat, sleep, my anxiety got better I also have a Holistic Dr. She had me drinking this “Tea”. And taking several supplements. Look up Dr Sebi fast or diet. My cancer came back in less than 6 months. I quit chemo because I was tired of being sick. My CEA number didn’t stop but slowed down quit a lot while I was following her regimen. I now have had another huge section of liver removed and will be starting chemo shortly here I assume. Getting harder to recover it seems. Hope you find something soon. I’ve never been the caretaker, but I’m sure it’s very hard. Thank you for being supportive. It’s very important. My bf chose to use my illness & volnerablehhgry refresh f Tyto his

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I think targrying the isdud is better then have chemo done a over

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@cheyna23

Hello. I also have stage 4 colorectal cancer. Diagnosed April 2021. I don’t remember all the different chemo meds I was on. But I think their nickname was “fulfoxari” or something. Supossed to do 12 rounds, didn’t make them all as I got sick and had no immune system left. But I had proton radiation, and major surgery to remove the huge mass surrounding ny rectum, my rectum, part of my intestine, gall
Bladder, 25* lymph nodes, then another surgeon removed a large chunk of one side of my
Liver, and several wedges on the other side and they ablated some as well . My dr gave me an rx for medical cannabis. Made a huge difference! I could eat, sleep, my anxiety got better I also have a Holistic Dr. She had me drinking this “Tea”. And taking several supplements. Look up Dr Sebi fast or diet. My cancer came back in less than 6 months. I quit chemo because I was tired of being sick. My CEA number didn’t stop but slowed down quit a lot while I was following her regimen. I now have had another huge section of liver removed and will be starting chemo shortly here I assume. Getting harder to recover it seems. Hope you find something soon. I’ve never been the caretaker, but I’m sure it’s very hard. Thank you for being supportive. It’s very important. My bf chose to use my illness & volnerablehhgry refresh f Tyto his

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Wow... thank you for sharing. I will definitely look up Dr. Sebi. You are a walking miracle. You've been through so much and you're still going strong. I know the road to recovery might seem long and full of difficulties, but as long as you don't give up, you'll come out as a survivor. I'll keep you in my prayers. Thank you.

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@cheyna23

Could Also look up the new procedure they’re doing. Hepatic Artery infusion pump.

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I'll look into this too! Thank you!

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Thank you for sharing! I did hear good things about immunotherapies. I hope his body tolerates it well. I agree, chemo wipes them out so much, it seems to accumulate over each round and the recovery time gets longer. Please do share what kind of immunotherapy he is advised to do. I would love to search on that too.

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***UPDATE***
It turns out he had major obstruction/blockage in his colon, which made everything backed up. He had too much cancer cells on colon so we had to get an emergency ileostomy. Surgery was a success, and he is doing so much better now. He does look scary though... He has a tube coming out through his nose to pump gas and fluids out from his stomach, 2 tubs on both sides of his abdomen to pump out ascites. He was so low on sodium and super dehydrated for not being able to eat or drink. (We him to a different hospital via ER.. original hospital won't do anything for his symptoms, only prescribe pain mediciatons.) Docs here said we have to hold off on chemo treatments since he needs to recover from the surgery. But they were very informative and shared with us what the next steps will be... which can provide better quality of life for him. We are finally hopeful.

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