Dear Isaac-
Sorry to hear you have CC. Dandkris is correct. Xeloda, while expensive, is cheap compared to Avastin which I will start on later this month. My oncologist told me that he was surprised that my insurance company approved Avastin as it costs tens of thousdands of dollars.
I have been on Xeloda since late June. It does cause some muscle aches for me, diarrhea sometimes, but mostly hand-foot syndrome where my feet swell up, get tender, and peel. I started on 3300 mg per day, but now I take 1650 daily. Usually I go for four days and have to stop for three days because of the hand-foot syndrome.
I have also had Gemzar infused, but my oncologist and I think the Xeloda is really the thing that is helping. My tumors in my liver have stabilized, although I do have cancer in my left hip bone now.
Good luck, Isaac. I have a blog which you can access from the general info page of this site.
-Caroline Stoufer