My Mil's Info

My MIL was diagnosed with a Klatskin tumor three weeks ago when she thought she was having gall bladder issues.

They went in 5/31to remove it only to find it had spread to the liver and kidneys.  The oncologist finally told us it is stage 4.  They are wanting to treat her with 5FU for 3 weeks 5 days a week,  They are not giving us any time frame and from what I have read it isn't good.  Does anyone have any experience with this?

We are trying to get the information togerther so that we can let her make the choice to go through witht he treatments because of the side effects.

She is also being pushed to stay at her daughter's for the treatment which will put her away from her husband who just found out he has prostate cancer.  I am not so sure that now is the time for them to be apart.

 Shannon

 

On 6/4/2007 Chasenluke wrote:

My MIL was diagnosed with a Klatskin tumor three weeks ago when she thought she was having gall bladder issues.

They went in 5/31to remove it only to find it had spread to the liver and kidneys.  The oncologist finally told us it is stage 4.  They are wanting to treat her with 5FU for 3 weeks 5 days a week,  They are not giving us any time frame and from what I have read it isn't good.  Does anyone have any experience with this?

We are trying to get the information togerther so that we can let her make the choice to go through witht he treatments because of the side effects.

She is also being pushed to stay at her daughter's for the treatment which will put her away from her husband who just found out he has prostate cancer.  I am not so sure that now is the time for them to be apart.

 Shannon

Hello Shannon,

My husband was also diagnozed with Klatskin. When they tried surgery it turned out that too much of the liver was already involved and they stopped the operation.

We had a long talk with the involving doctors and they clearly told us that chemo-treatment can only give us a little more time. However, the quality of his life is fastly going down with chemo. We know we have only a few months left, but at this moment he is feeling good. He refused chemo and we are taking every good day as a gift.

Nobody can decide for your mother, but this is our story and I wanted to share that. I wish you and your family all the strength you can get. For this is hard on you all.

Love, Iris.

 

I agree, quality vs quantity.  My husband is enjoying every moment, he is feeling great now that the chemo has left his body and good sleep and some energy is returning. IN all my research, and I did plenty of it, no miracles were found with bile duct cancer and the involvement of the liver (14 cm tumor in the wrong area !) and chemo was not effective, and ruining what is left of him. Your mom may want to explore being with loved ones and considering each day a gift and living in the moment as much as possible. It is a shame to think of her being away from her husband in the times when they need each other the most.

Ask nthe oncologist to combine Davanat with the 5FU. Davanat makes the 5FU much more effective and at the same time reduces the side effects. Davanat is a carbohydrate that cancer cell receptors grab onto but normal cells shun. It coats the 5FU thus hitting only the cancer cells.