Folfirinox > Gemcitabene?

With apologies to my friends and coworkers at Shaw Media who have already read this, here's a copy/paste of my chemotherapy information:

I have chosen a course of chemo called Folfirinox. It's not yet approved in Canada, but there's reason to believe it may be more effective than the standard pancreatic cancer treatment: Gemcitabene. With Gemcitabene, cancer can reoccur elsewhere in the body 80 to 90 percent of the time.

I didn't like those lousy odds so I chose the Folfirinox. The trouble with Folfirinox is that it's much more toxic; besides some very serious side effects, I will certainly experience hair loss, nausea, and my favourite, diarrhoea with constipation.

Since this is a new treatment nobody really knows how I'll react; it will likely cause me grievous harm.

What I do know:

• A port-a-cath (a tap into my vein) will be inserted on Monday, January 9th
• My first day of chemo is Tuesday, January 10th - it's a 46 hour procedure, meaning I will go home with a pump.
• My second day of chemo is Thursday, January 12th.

I don't have my full schedule, but I believe that I will have two sessions of chemo every other week for six months. Unless my body can't handle the toxicity, in which case the plans will change.

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The idea here is obviously to go after this thing as aggressively as my incoming health allows. I am sure over the next six months there will be times when I greatly regret the decision to take the harder and more uncertain route.

But hey, isn't rising to the challenge supposed to put hair on one's chest?