If you had stage II or III colon cancer, or if your surgeon detected the spread of cancerous cells to your lymph nodes while performing surgery, you will most likely be offered a course of adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery. The goal of adjuvant chemotherapy is to target any "micrometastases" (in other words, any small cancerous cells that are undetectable to the naked eye) and to "kill" them, so as to greatly diminish the chance of a future recurrence of your cancer. Adjuvant chemotherapy is not necessary for stage I colon cancer, because stage I cancer is confined to the bowel and holds next to zero risk of having spread anywhere else in the body. There is an online program called "Adjuvant!" that helps both physicians and patients to assess the possible risk of recurrence of their colon cancer, alongside the pros and cons of proceeding with adjuvant chemotherapy. This tool can be extremely helpful in allowing patients to see the benefits and risks of proceeding with chemotherapy treatment, and to make an informed decision as to whether it is something that interests them. While surgery is the first-line treatment for stages I, II, and III colon cancer, chemotherapy is the key aspect of treating stage IV. Unfortunately, stage IV colon cancer is technically "incurable," because it has already metastasized to other areas of the body. However, seeking treatment can improve your prognosis and expected lifespan, as well as decrease the symptoms you may be suffering from, so it is certainly worth discussing with your doctor as a treatment option. The reason that chemotherapy is the primary mode of treatment for stage IV colon cancer is that the cancer has spread systemically (throughout your body), and therefore a "systemic treatment" (a treatment that travels throughout your bloodstream to all areas of your body, such as chemotherapy), is needed to have the desired impact. Chemotherapy for stage IV colon cancer is often accompanied by surgery to remove any masses in the colon and/or elsewhere in the body. The purpose of surgically removing masses is to relieve any bowel obstruction, to decrease pain, and to potentially prolong your expected lifespan. There are several different chemotherapy drugs that may be used, either alone or in combination, to treat stage IV metastatic colon cancer. The option that is best for you will depend on a number of factors. These include: Your overall health, which determines your ability to "tolerate," or handle, a particular strength of chemotherapy treatment. This is because certain chemotherapy drugs can be too toxic for people with poor health. Whether this is your first trial of chemotherapy, or whether you have been unsuccessful with other chemotherapy drugs. Generally, the least toxic chemotherapy drugs are used as a first-line treatment for colon cancer. However, with time, the cancer may become "resistant" to these drugs and they may stop working. At this time, you may need to switch which drugs you are on and try a second-line or third-line option to combat your colon cancer. The specific type of colon cancer you have. There are certain subtypes of colon cancer that respond better to certain chemotherapy drugs than others. Your doctor can advise you as to how, if at all, this may impact the chemotherapy drugs that are best in your particular case. Common chemotherapy drugs used in the treatment of colon cancer include: Leucovorin, 5-FU, Oxaliplatin, Irinotecan, and Capecitabine, among others. Undergoing chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer can come hand-in-hand with many side effects. Common side effects when undergoing treatment for colon cancer include fatigue, "chemo brain" (a hazy brain where your thinking feels less sharp than normal), a rash, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, mouth sores, an increased risk of developing a fever and/or another infection (due to the toxic effect of chemotherapy on your immune system), and nerve pain, among other things. Fortunately, there are medical treatment available to help minimize many of these side effects, should you begin to experience them during your chemotherapy treatments. You will see your doctor for ongoing visits and monitoring of any side effects throughout your chemotherapy treatments. It is important to share the side effects you are experiencing with your doctor, so that he or she can offer you medications, if a form of treatment is available to help you to cope. While radiation is a frequent method of treating various forms of cancer, it is generally not used for colon cancer. It is, however, occasionally used in rectal cancer, oftentimes in combination with chemotherapy and/or surgery.

Summary: Opt for "adjuvant" chemotherapy for stage II or III colon cancer. Proceed with chemotherapy as the mainstay of treatment for stage IV colon cancer. Talk to your doctor to decide on a drug regimen for chemotherapy. Take medications to manage the side effects. Be aware that radiation is rarely used in the treatment of colon cancer.

It's important to note that there are no teleportation panels at the top or bottom of any of the squares in the middle section. This means that clearing candies anywhere outside of the middle section won't effect the candies in the middle. The only way to get new candies in the middle is by clearing candies there either directly or with a striped candy, wrapped/striped combo, or striped/striped combo. On their own, wrapped candies are useless in this level their explosion range isn't big enough to affect the middle section where the jelly and chocolate are. Thus, you won't want to waste moves making them unless you plan to use them in a wrapped/striped combo or use them to trigger a vertical striped candy. However, in the rare even that you can get a wrapped/wrapped combo, use it! The massive explosion radius should be able to hit a large area of the middle section at least once (unless you trigger it at the bottom of the board.) Once the chocolate spreads throughout the middle section, it can be very hard to finish the level, since this essentially adds another layer that you need to "break" through before you can start clearing jelly. Your best bet is to keep the chocolate from spreading until you have a vertical stripe or two ready to deal with it. This means that you shouldn't break the locked square before you're ready to clear the chocolate. You can clear jelly on the left and you should clear the chocolate on the right before you hit the lock, but once the lock is broken, you need to be ready to clear the chocolate right away or you may find yourself in a very difficult situation. Nothing is more crushing than clearing all of the jelly in this level only to fail because you haven't gotten enough points. Though the one-star marker is positioned fairly low on the point meter, it's still possible to finish the level without the 50,000 points needed to reach it, so pay attention to the points you're accumulating throughout the level. Keep in mind that, since you get a point bonus for each unused turn at the end of the level, it's almost always best to finish early, rather than waste turns trying to set up massive combos.
Summary: Don't waste time trying to get new blocks in the center section. Don't use wrapped candies except for striped/wrapped combos. Don't let the chocolate get out of control. Don't forget about the point limit.