Question For Group

Hi, I previously posted under "I'm Terrified."  I still am, but not as much and have had my second chemo treatment.  Not too many side effects, and I still have hair, although that is the least of my worries.  I have stage IV, with mets to the liver and left adrenal.

I woke up this evening with sharp pains in my lower right quadrant that change when I move or breathe deeply.  No fever yet.  As I still have my appendix I'm suspicious of that.  Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark-Don't have an answer for you about pain, but wondered how you are doing? Thought you must have done 2nd treatment last week.  Do they do therasphere for liver treatment where you are?  Seems like it might be a promising treatment for liver mets.  We are on hold, waiting for most recent CT results.....hoping for answer today, but have appt with oncologist Thursday for results. He looks good and is feeling pretty well, so I am cautiously optimistic.  Hoping to bring another of those "my oncologist can't figure out what's going on" statements to the guinea pig group this week, but I always start to sweat when we are waiting on results.  Have a good day, and just relax and let those chemo drugs do their job.  Suya

 

On 4/7/2008 tongrenhealer wrote:

Hi Mark-Don't have an answer for you about pain, but wondered how you are doing? Thought you must have done 2nd treatment last week.  Do they do therasphere for liver treatment where you are?  Seems like it might be a promising treatment for liver mets.  We are on hold, waiting for most recent CT results.....hoping for answer today, but have appt with oncologist Thursday for results. He looks good and is feeling pretty well, so I am cautiously optimistic.  Hoping to bring another of those "my oncologist can't figure out what's going on" statements to the guinea pig group this week, but I always start to sweat when we are waiting on results.  Have a good day, and just relax and let those chemo drugs do their job.  Suya

 

Can you give more information about therasphere?  My dad has esophageal cancer with mets to the liver.

 

On 4/7/2008 MarkInMaryland wrote:

Hi, I previously posted under "I'm Terrified."  I still am, but not as much and have had my second chemo treatment.  Not too many side effects, and I still have hair, although that is the least of my worries.  I have stage IV, with mets to the liver and left adrenal.

I woke up this evening with sharp pains in my lower right quadrant that change when I move or breathe deeply.  No fever yet.  As I still have my appendix I'm suspicious of that.  Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark,

My husband has stage IV EC with metastasis to the liver.  He started to get the pain that you described and the oncologist said it was a 'referral' pain from the liver.  So now he's on morphine to stop the pain.  He is pain free - He was diagnosed in Dec. 2006, so he's a 14 months 'survivor'. 

Ask your doctor about the pain and if that could be the cause - then make sure you have the right pain meds to manage the pain.

Gentle hugs,

Azzie

 

This keeps getting lost, but I'll try again. Don't know lots about terasphere but you could google liver terasphere and would come up with info I would guess. Also might want to try Lois who is president of EC Awareness group.  Believe address is ecaware.net and she can be reached by going to contact us and clicking on link by her name. Her husband Dick is an EC survivor and had terasphere done as an experimental treatment in CO where they live.  I seem to recall having read it is no longer considered experimental and they have had some good results.  I'm sure she could help you with information on it. She's a wonderful advocate for all EC people. 

Lois is at ecaware.org.  Had the address wrong.  May also have spelled terasphere wrong so you might do best to contact her before you spend time searching.

I did spell TheraSphere wrong-this is the correct way. It's a form of radiation delivered directly to the area in the liver with tumor growth via catheter. It is a possible treatment when surgery is not an option. You can find a lot of info if you search it.

OK, the nurse practioners (whom I like better than the drs) said the pain was from the chemo slightly enlarging the liver.  This interfered with the diaphram on a deep breath, hiccup, etc. 

They said that this could be a cause of concern, but because none of the other liver problems seemed present, jaundice, difficulty urinating, etc, we should just treat the pain.

Lortab is now my friend.

Thanks

Mark