Dr. Saltz said that I have a "closing window" to try to arrest the growth and shrink the tumors. He strongly recommended that I undergo the chemotherapy called "FOLFOX," even though he had hoped to be able to avoid treating me with it, as a not-infrequent side effect of the Oxalipatin in FOLFOX is neuropathy. Oxalpilatin is much more likely to cause neuropathy in those who have Reynaud's Syndrome, like me. Such neuropathy can cause permanent loss of the use of the fingers, even loss of the ability to walk. There are many other side effects and potential side effects as well. For example, most people who are treated with FOLFOX experience a change in the way food tastes, so that it no longer tastes good. Usually, but not always, this alteration in the sense of taste eventually goes away after halting the cycles of FOLFOX.
Dr. Saltz said that he hopes that I will once again be off chemotherapy, for positive reasons, at some point. But he emphasized that he will be continually reevaluating my treatment, and that oncology is the art of "Plan B." Meanwhile, in at least the near term, he said that he thinks that I will have periods in each two-week cycle of chemotherapy during which I can get exercise and otherwise enjoy life.
This afternoon, over a period of a little over two hours, I received my first dose of FOLFOX. The risk/reward ratio of trying FOLFOX seems rational to me. I don't think that I have simply fallen into the trap-- so far, at least-- of desperately flailing about, mindlessly permitting poisons to be pumped into me that offer no real hope of delaying the inevitable.
