Colon Cancer With Liver Mets Md Anderson

hi, my husband has colon cancer with liver mets, he was diagnosed October 07, had colon surgery and they found a mass on his liver. He did 5 rounds of chemo until Feb 08 when doctors were going to see if liver mass shrank so they could resect it, well it did not shrink and they found another mass in his colon, surger again early this month (april) they found 2 masses in colon and another mass on his liver, the doctor cut it all out of his colon but said he was going to start chemo again to see if it would shrink the masses in the liver which are each 5cm.  They are supposed to try a different kind of chemo since the last round did not work.  I really want my Husband to get a second opinion at MD anderson. has any one ever been there?  How long does it take to get an appointment?  The doctors are keeping us kindof in the dar, not telling us how bad or not bad it is.

Hi,

   I don't know where you live but my husband was diagnosed 3 years ago with Colo Rectal cancer that spread to his liver . We have the most amazing doctor his name Iis Dr. John Marks, he is affilliated with Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood Pa. I can tell you that this man is absolutly brilliant !! Please look him up on line at Marks colo rectal cancer .He takes on cases where other doctors have given up .If you call they do thier very best to get you into an apt A.S.A.P.  We have refered many people to him and they are now referring people they meet to see him as well. He  along with his father have pioneered a procedure that they reverse a colostomy to give a patient a normal life .We have met a surgeon from Louisiana and a man from Seattle Washington that come to him for treatment and surgery where thier former docs basically told them to go home and enjoy the last 3 months of thier life .The man from Louisiana is now 3 years cancer free .

Please feel free to email me personally and I would be more than happy to give you my phone number to talk to you personally .Believe me when I tell you that he is as good as it gets !!!!

Pat   

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hi there, I do wish your husband all the best.  I am so worried about my sister, she is 54 and has stage 4 colo rectal cancer which is just starting to spread to the liver and spine. please can you tell me more about your husband's staging and his response to the chemo.  God bless you both.  thanks.

On 4/28/2008 CaregiverPatti wrote:

Hi,

   I don't know where you live but my husband was diagnosed 3 years ago with Colo Rectal cancer that spread to his liver . We have the most amazing doctor his name Iis Dr. John Marks, he is affilliated with Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood Pa. I can tell you that this man is absolutly brilliant !! Please look him up on line at Marks colo rectal cancer .He takes on cases where other doctors have given up .If you call they do thier very best to get you into an apt A.S.A.P.  We have refered many people to him and they are now referring people they meet to see him as well. He  along with his father have pioneered a procedure that they reverse a colostomy to give a patient a normal life .We have met a surgeon from Louisiana and a man from Seattle Washington that come to him for treatment and surgery where thier former docs basically told them to go home and enjoy the last 3 months of thier life .The man from Louisiana is now 3 years cancer free .

Please feel free to email me personally and I would be more than happy to give you my phone number to talk to you personally .Believe me when I tell you that he is as good as it gets !!!!

Pat     pat_landis@hotmail.com 

 

 

On 4/28/2008 caroljane wrote:

hi there, I do wish your husband all the best.  I am so worried about my sister, she is 54 and has stage 4 colo rectal cancer which is just starting to spread to the liver and spine. please can you tell me more about your husband's staging and his response to the chemo.  God bless you both.  thanks.

On 4/28/2008 CaregiverPatti wrote:

Hi,

   I don't know where you live but my husband was diagnosed 3 years ago with Colo Rectal cancer that spread to his liver . We have the most amazing doctor his name Iis Dr. John Marks, he is affilliated with Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood Pa. I can tell you that this man is absolutly brilliant !! Please look him up on line at Marks colo rectal cancer .He takes on cases where other doctors have given up .If you call they do thier very best to get you into an apt A.S.A.P.  We have refered many people to him and they are now referring people they meet to see him as well. He  along with his father have pioneered a procedure that they reverse a colostomy to give a patient a normal life .We have met a surgeon from Louisiana and a man from Seattle Washington that come to him for treatment and surgery where thier former docs basically told them to go home and enjoy the last 3 months of thier life .The man from Louisiana is now 3 years cancer free .

Please feel free to email me personally and I would be more than happy to give you my phone number to talk to you personally .Believe me when I tell you that he is as good as it gets !!!!

Pat     pat_landis@hotmail.com 

 

 

Hi Carol Jane,

    MY husband went thru 2 rounds of Chemo and 6 weeks of radiation. That I must have to say he breezed thru all with little or NO side affects.He just recently had a liver resection that they removed 60% of his liver due to reaccurance and will start Chemo again in 2 weeks .I do know that he will be getting Avastin and CPT11 ..SO I PRAY EVERY DAY THAT HE GETS THRU THIS NEXT 3/6 MONTHS .This is an awful disease and I do nothing but research everyday to see what has come out in the medical world that is new as far as getting this disease to Stop..Please email me if you have anymore questions I would love to hear from you

Pat    pat_landis@hotmail.com

Hi. My dad was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer last May. It has mts to the liver. A year ago they said the liver was so bad there was no hope - surgery was not an option. They gave him a year to live. One year later, the liver tumors have shrunk 80% but they are still not able to operate yet. But, there is hope. Next week, he will be getting the pump put in and the tumor removed from the colon.
He has a great doctor and a great surgeon at Sloan Kettering in NYC. When there was no hope a year ago, we trie dto get into MD Anderson but they wouldn't take him. They weren't very helpful.
I hope this helps!

I contacted MD Anderson for an opinion they said they were not giving opinions, unless I was going to get my treatment there as well. I have gotten othe options at Cleveland clinic, UCL and USC. all goot. I did get liver ablation at Cleveland Clinic and was disesae free for one year had a reoccurcne in October 07 more chemo and now doing well again.

 

Kevin

Las Vegas

Hi Everyone! I am brand new to Cancer Compass as of today! I couldn't help but to respond about MD Anderson. My Mom (64y.o.) was diagnosed with Colon Cancer 11-2006....she had a colon resection and was told by the oncologist that she did not need chemotherapy. I remember her coming out from his office telling me that he said that she did not need chemotherapy and her exact words..."Lets hurry up and get out of here before he changes his mind!"  Never did I dream that 2 years later we would be faced with Stage 4 Colon to Liver Mets. It now makes us question...now why did they not do chemo 2 years ago? The margins of the colon tumor were questionable at the time....in my opinion....do chemo. But little did I know at the time that I should have gotten her a second opinion on chemo. When a doctor tells you that you don't need chemo...you assume that he knows what he is talking about. Normally you only get second opinions when they tell you that you DO need something and then you question their knowledge!!! Anyhow...it is what it is! Routine CEA bloodwork came back in 1-08 elevated. After a Cat Scan, MRI, Pet Scan and 2 liver biopsies....the diagnosis of Liver Mets came in at positive. I immediately contacted MD Anderson in Houston Texas because I knew about it from a friend who is a physicians assistant in Plano Texas. MD Anderson is voted the #1 Cancer hospital in the World! I knew that only the best would do for my mother! We gathered all of the reports and radiology material and sent them on down to Texas per their request. Within a week....we were scheduled for an appointment 2-3 weeks later. (They try to get people in sooner...but their Gastro department is OVERLOADED with cases)  We made our first trip down there at the end of April 2008. Our doctors name is Eddie Abdalla MD. he will be the surgeon performing the Liver Resection. He is a great guy...very thorough...and gives us a lot of hope! He suggested that mom come back to Ohio for chemo because he said if he had to go thru something like that...he would want to be at home also. He is working with our oncologist here in Ohio so that everyone stays in the loop. We will be flying out to Houston again at the end of June 2008 to repeat the testing that was done during our last trip. This will tell Dr.Abdalla whether the chemo has kept the lesions the same or shrunk them. If this has been accomplished then mom will be scheduled for a liver resection and a more invasive colon resection at the end of July 2008.  We met several survivors that were previously in Stage 4 colon to liver mets....who have underwent the same therapy and surgery that mom will go thru...they have all been cancer free for a number of years now. After surgery...mom will continue with the remainder of her 6 month chemo regimine and then should be done!!! Frequent check ups will be in her future...I am sure! 

We have nothing.....NOTHING.....bad to say about MD Anderson. This place is giving us total confidence that she will be cancer free in the end! (of course we do know that there is no guarantee of this or no guarantee that the cancer will not come back...but we are very optimistic!) I have heard many good stories about MD and a few bad ones. Most of the bad ones are about people not being accepted by the facility.  But what we do not know about these people are the severity of their case. If the cancer is too far advanced...then maybe MD knows that their condition is out of their control?? I don't know....all I can tell you is that we are very pleased with everything that has happened from the very first phone call that I have made to them.

If anyone has any questions at all....please contact me! A personal 'surgeon' friend of mine tells me that my mom is going down this path for a reason and he totally believes that it has something to do with me being able to share my medical knowledge (17 years hospital pharmacy experience) and the updated knowledge of cancer care, advanced treatment techniques, and cancer care options that are made available thru MD Anderson. This facility is so much more advanced than our hospital here in Ohio. Even the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital in Cleveland and University of Pittsburgh rank only in the 20%-30% of the worlds best cancer centers...where MD Anderson ranks 100%.

 Jodi....daughter to a future Stage 4 Colon Cancer SURVIVOR!!

Sorry to hear about your experience with MD Anderson. Unfortunately they were not able to serve you like they have us. You are also at a great hospital ranking 96.3% in the Worlds Best Cancer Hospitals.

I am really glad that your father is doing well! An 80% shrink is awesome! Keep the faith knowing that you have done the best possible thing for your father and he is fighting this nasty disease with all of his might!!!

Keep us posted on how things are going!

 

This sounds kind of strange to me! I would call them again and maybe you will get routed to a different person! I do know that the Gastro part of MD is overloaded with patients. My mom is not getting chemotherapy at MD but she will have her liver resection done there! I wonder if it has something to do with insurance? Maybe if one's insurance is not good...they do not take on the patient and get stuck with the bills? I am not saying that this was the reason for your denial...just in general.  I don't know...just a guess. I have 17 years of hospital experience and I know how much a hospital gets stuck with! I can't imagine that this hospital gets in to doing much 'charity' work!

Best of Luck...keep us updated on your progress!

 

On 6/14/2008 MyMomHasStage4Colon wrote:

Hi Everyone! I am brand new to Cancer Compass as of today! I couldn't help but to respond about MD Anderson. My Mom (64y.o.) was diagnosed with Colon Cancer 11-2006....she had a colon resection and was told by the oncologist that she did not need chemotherapy. I remember her coming out from his office telling me that he said that she did not need chemotherapy and her exact words..."Lets hurry up and get out of here before he changes his mind!"  Never did I dream that 2 years later we would be faced with Stage 4 Colon to Liver Mets. It now makes us question...now why did they not do chemo 2 years ago? The margins of the colon tumor were questionable at the time....in my opinion....do chemo. But little did I know at the time that I should have gotten her a second opinion on chemo. When a doctor tells you that you don't need chemo...you assume that he knows what he is talking about. Normally you only get second opinions when they tell you that you DO need something and then you question their knowledge!!! Anyhow...it is what it is! Routine CEA bloodwork came back in 1-08 elevated. After a Cat Scan, MRI, Pet Scan and 2 liver biopsies....the diagnosis of Liver Mets came in at positive. I immediately contacted MD Anderson in Houston Texas because I knew about it from a friend who is a physicians assistant in Plano Texas. MD Anderson is voted the #1 Cancer hospital in the World! I knew that only the best would do for my mother! We gathered all of the reports and radiology material and sent them on down to Texas per their request. Within a week....we were scheduled for an appointment 2-3 weeks later. (They try to get people in sooner...but their Gastro department is OVERLOADED with cases)  We made our first trip down there at the end of April 2008. Our doctors name is Eddie Abdalla MD. he will be the surgeon performing the Liver Resection. He is a great guy...very thorough...and gives us a lot of hope! He suggested that mom come back to Ohio for chemo because he said if he had to go thru something like that...he would want to be at home also. He is working with our oncologist here in Ohio so that everyone stays in the loop. We will be flying out to Houston again at the end of June 2008 to repeat the testing that was done during our last trip. This will tell Dr.Abdalla whether the chemo has kept the lesions the same or shrunk them. If this has been accomplished then mom will be scheduled for a liver resection and a more invasive colon resection at the end of July 2008.  We met several survivors that were previously in Stage 4 colon to liver mets....who have underwent the same therapy and surgery that mom will go thru...they have all been cancer free for a number of years now. After surgery...mom will continue with the remainder of her 6 month chemo regimine and then should be done!!! Frequent check ups will be in her future...I am sure! 

We have nothing.....NOTHING.....bad to say about MD Anderson. This place is giving us total confidence that she will be cancer free in the end! (of course we do know that there is no guarantee of this or no guarantee that the cancer will not come back...but we are very optimistic!) I have heard many good stories about MD and a few bad ones. Most of the bad ones are about people not being accepted by the facility.  But what we do not know about these people are the severity of their case. If the cancer is too far advanced...then maybe MD knows that their condition is out of their control?? I don't know....all I can tell you is that we are very pleased with everything that has happened from the very first phone call that I have made to them.

If anyone has any questions at all....please contact me! A personal 'surgeon' friend of mine tells me that my mom is going down this path for a reason and he totally believes that it has something to do with me being able to share my medical knowledge (17 years hospital pharmacy experience) and the updated knowledge of cancer care, advanced treatment techniques, and cancer care options that are made available thru MD Anderson. This facility is so much more advanced than our hospital here in Ohio. Even the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital in Cleveland and University of Pittsburgh rank only in the 20%-30% of the worlds best cancer centers...where MD Anderson ranks 100%.

 Jodi....daughter to a future Stage 4 Colon Cancer SURVIVOR!!

 

Hi am very worried about my wonderful Dad diagnosed 9 weeks ago with stage 4. Colon tumour removed and seven weeks ago at scan one tumour and 2 small dots to the liver next scan 3 weeks on show s3 more dots on liver. Don't if the cat scam just could not see them before or if this means that the cancer is going really fast (It is an agreesive tumour from colon). He is starting chemo next week. Am at wits end with worry and need some hope. Even if the 3 small mets show it's fast acting itdoesn't mean that chemo won't help, does it? They are all contained in te right lobe. I am worried that it will grow or spread to fast and my heart is breaking with the worry. He is firt and well even though only 6 weeks post op.