Fingers and Toes!!

To begin this post correctly I need to rewind roughly 2 weeks and explain what began happening.  I began feeling numbness in my toes.  I chalked it up to the shoes I was wearing at the time.  After 2 days with symptoms more or less disappearing at night I took the shoes and placed them deep in my closet until further notice.  Since then I began experiencing similar numbness in my fingers only to a lesser degree.  For those technical people the term for this is Neuropathy which you often get from chemo especially one of the medications I had the joy of receiving. 

Since my symptoms of Neuropathy in my fingers subsided before surgery I wasn't really sure why it came back worse and also in my toes.  I asked my liver surgeon at my follow up yesterday.  His response was that it was due to the chemo I had before surgery.  I was still skeptical so when we met with my Oncologist today we asked again.  He confirmed it was due to the chemo before surgery.  He said in a few patients he has seen the symptoms show up a few months later.  Oh Joy I get join the ranks of those "not Normal" patients who get symptoms late.

What does this mean for treatment was the question that followed.  The Doctor said due to not wanting to cause permanent Nerve damage he would change my Chemo regimen.  For most of you reading this will get more detailed than you really need but I feel this will best explain the future.  I was on a Chemo combination acronymed FOLFOX  I don't know exactly what the FOLF is for but after today I clearly understand the OX was the short name for the drug which causes Neuropathy as well as sensations to cold things.  My new regimen will be FOLFIRI.  It is the IRI that replaces the OX.  It's major side effects are diahrea and hair loss. 

I always said from day 1 I wouldn't care if I lost my hair or not.  As of right now I still feel that way.  That feeling may change after it starts happening but I won't know until it happens.  The doctor said it would likely be thinning of hair not necessarily the point I would need to shave my head.

The one thing that bothers me at this point is the thought of Diahrea.  I don't know if my pattern of Chemo and the process of returning to work a few days later will be the same.  A lot of unknowns that scare me at the moment.

So what about My fingers and toes you ask?  The Doctor said I should continue to take Vitamin B12 and feeling should return to normal.  It will likely take a couple of months but should return.

The timetable is to start Chemo next Thursday and have treatments once every two weeks for a length of 2.days.

--Kent