Klatskin Tumor Resected

Dr. Jerome Canady resected my 76 yr. old mom's tumor 6 days ago with great success. He removed 50% of her liver and the bile ducts and I  believe gall bladder. She is doing well and probably going home tomorrow (Monday). She will need chemo/radiation for approximately 3 months to insure this hideous tumor does not return. This kind of surgery can be done!!! Her bilirubin is now 4 and her enzymes are almost normal. Please know that if your loved one has any kind of GI cancer there is help. It's in the person of Dr. Canady. He is the most dedicated, passionate surgeon. He never left the hospital the night after my mom's surgery, keeping an eye on her and has been with her every day since. I can not thank this man enough. He is a savior!!! Thanks to him I will be having  more Thansgivings and Christmas's with my mom.

Very grateful daughter,

Melody

Dear Melody,

We met at the Monongahela Hospital, my sister is Laura - she is Tommy's wife.  I'm so glad to hear that your mother is still doing well and that she is out of the hospital for the holidays.  Tommy was able to fly home yesterday and they will meet with a new oncologist next week to get a treatment plan in place.  Dr. Canady is really pushing them for another surgery, so please continue to keep them in your prayers.  Blessings to you and your mother,

Amy 

Melody - this is so exciting!  I am so happy for you.  My dad was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in September of this year, had surgery 10/9, removed 45% of his liver, Klatskin Tumor and his gall bladder.  When path reports came back, we did not get "clean margins".  I began a frantic search for info and found this website.  I contacted Dr. Canady on 10/17 and he returned my call.  I have just got my dad's info together (it took forever to get copies) and I am going to forward it to Dr. Canady.  My dad began chemo and radiation last Tuesday.  I am looking forward to Dr. Canady's input.  My dad is being treated by Dr. Alan Hemming at Shands at the University of Florida.  I am happy with his treatment, but I want to cover ALL bases and options!  Did your mom ever contact Shands at UF?

 I am praying for you and your mom!  What a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving and counting your many blessings!  Please keep me posted!!

 Another thankful daughter,

Patsy

On 11/18/2007 melody539 wrote:

Dr. Jerome Canady resected my 76 yr. old mom's tumor 6 days ago with great success. He removed 50% of her liver and the bile ducts and I  believe gall bladder. She is doing well and probably going home tomorrow (Monday). She will need chemo/radiation for approximately 3 months to insure this hideous tumor does not return. This kind of surgery can be done!!! Her bilirubin is now 4 and her enzymes are almost normal. Please know that if your loved one has any kind of GI cancer there is help. It's in the person of Dr. Canady. He is the most dedicated, passionate surgeon. He never left the hospital the night after my mom's surgery, keeping an eye on her and has been with her every day since. I can not thank this man enough. He is a savior!!! Thanks to him I will be having  more Thansgivings and Christmas's with my mom.

Very grateful daughter,

Melody

Good Morning Melody,

I haven't heard from you lately...but I realize why...you and your mom have been very busy...I am very pleased to hear your mom had surgery and especially pleased to hear she is doing well.  In this situation remember quality of life is much more important than quantity of life. Did Doctor Canady do a Roux-en-Y Procedure to establish a new path of travel for the bile from the liver to her new common bile duct (small intestine)? Please do not misunderstand me...when I say the road ahead is not going to be easy...your mom's bilirubin count (4) is very high. It is very important to keep the bile count low and most important to keep the bile flowing correctly, if not...your mom will experiense bile infections that will send her to the hospital for IV antibiotics..I'm wondering why your mon needs Chemo and Radiation. If doctor Canady removed the Klatshin Tumor from the hepatic bile ducts along with the common bile duct, the Gall Bladder/Cysitc duct and most likely some close by lymph nodes...what areas are they planning to radiate and more important what type of  radiation treatment are they planning?  I hope all goes well, this sounds like it's going to be a very Happy Thanksgiving Holiday....Keep a sharp eye on your mom's body temparture, if the bile backs up into the liver, it can and will spike immediately...a supply of oral antibiotics is a good idea...ask your doctor about it.  Wishing you and your family a very happy holiday season...Leonard...Alamo California         

Hi Patsy,

Well, we have had a minor setback ( I hope minor ), mom is in ICU again with infection and erratic HR. She is going to radiology to have a drain put in again to drain the fluid around the liver. Poor thing, she feels like crap. Hopefully this will alleviate the problem. But, she is where she should be right now.

Shands was mentioned to us but we chose to go to Univ. of Michigan first then on to Dr. Canady. U of M was skeptical about surgery so Doc Canady was really our one and only choice. We are still happy we came, the alternative was NO WAY!! We are going for the CURE!!!

Please keep me informed as to when you will be arriving as we are here til after the first of the year. I may be able to answer some questions you may have.

Melody

Hi

Would just like to say that my mom had a Klatskin tumor removed and her bile duct rebuilt w/a partial liver resection by the most outstanding doctor who specializes in this surgery.  His name is Dr. Leslie Blumgart and he is at Sloan Kettering in Manhattan.

Unfortunately, this type of surgery is NOT a cure and will most likely just extend the time you have with your loved one.  My mom and a total of 2 operations, both of which looked very "good" with margins appearing clean, but nonetheless, she did pass away 2 1/2 years later.  Dr. Blumgart did NOT recommend any chemo because quality of life would suffer for the last part, so my mom decided to live life, go on cruises, visit all her friends, relatives, grandchildren, and only suffered a very short time at the end--all managed with the help of hospice and wonderful private duty nurses.  She passed away in her own home with her family at her side--just as she had wanted to do.  Not in a hospital, but in her familiar surroundings with everyone there at her side.

 Good luck for the future; personally I would stay away from chemo and enjoy every moment--feeling relatively in good health!

Hello Melody,

I've been trying to reply to your messages sent to me but for some reason, they don't seem to be going through.

I hope all is well with your mom and the holiday was spend out of the hospital.

Maybe you're back home in FL, that would be nice.

Well just wanted to tough bases with you and was wondering how your mom is doing.

I hope this message gets through...there have been at least three previous messages that I know you haven't seen.  For some reason CancerCompass is failing to move the messages through their system.

Hope the New Year brings health and joy to your entire family

Leonard