[chrisy]

Hi Marie,
Your fears are understandable, of course. We see the chemo as a lifeline and when someone says were "done", it's scary!

Have you asked his oncologist this question?

I don't really know how your husband's stage iv disease was diagnosed - was it through markers or with scans? Do you know that markers are "reliable" for your husband? Have you seen a downward trend?

I ask this because although for some people markers are helpful, for others they are not. I am one for whom markers are not reliable, so my oncs do not use them AT ALL. Sometimes I insist, and they laugh at me then do it after making me promise I won't freak if one is high.

Since my oncs did not use markers, I don't know if my experience will be helpful to you or not. My experience was I had 6 cycles of T/C/H with scans every couple months to see what was going on. When I was "done" with these 6 cycles, the scan still showed residual "tumor", which was scary to me, however my onc thought that might be necrosis (dead tumor) which would resolve on it's own. This was the case and my next scan was clean.

More chemo is not necessarily better - your husband needs to recharge his body's resources.

My suggestion, you've asked the "experts" here, make sure to ask the "expert" who's telling you treatment is done.

Marie, I can also relate to the lack of focus on mundane things like taxes - I didn't balance my checkbook for months during my treatment! Good thing you have until the 17th to file those nasty taxes this year!

Take care
Chris