Liver Mets

My father had Stage IV colon cancer, had it resected, has a colostomy, and went through six months of chemo. He finished in Dec. of 2007. In January they did a PET/CT scan which showed some minimal cancer in his pelvic area and a little around the ostomy site. They wanted to leave him off of chemo for two months and then get another PET scan. Medicare wouldn't let him get a PET scan March (because it hadn't been 90 days), They moved it to April and then they declined it again saying there wasn't enough reason to have it done. They finally got a CAT scan instead the last of April and it showed metastasis to the liver and one spot on his lung (all of which were not there in January). The question is this:  they gave him less than six months if he doesn't have more chemo. They said 1 - 6 years if he had chemo. My dad doesn't really want to go through it again. He is 76 years old. Should I encourage him to do it or not. What are the odds really of him lasting 6 years????

 

On 5/11/2008 JKBEANS wrote:

My father had Stage IV colon cancer, had it resected, has a colostomy, and went through six months of chemo. He finished in Dec. of 2007. In January they did a PET/CT scan which showed some minimal cancer in his pelvic area and a little around the ostomy site. They wanted to leave him off of chemo for two months and then get another PET scan. Medicare wouldn't let him get a PET scan March (because it hadn't been 90 days), They moved it to April and then they declined it again saying there wasn't enough reason to have it done. They finally got a CAT scan instead the last of April and it showed metastasis to the liver and one spot on his lung (all of which were not there in January). The question is this:  they gave him less than six months if he doesn't have more chemo. They said 1 - 6 years if he had chemo. My dad doesn't really want to go through it again. He is 76 years old. Should I encourage him to do it or not. What are the odds really of him lasting 6 years????

Hi JK    My husband was dianozed with stage 3 colon cancer in June 2001...  He had surgery and 6 months of 5FU after the surgery healed....

The cancer returned in 2005 .... Stage 4 ... with meds to his liver & lungs.... 

He started CPT-11 & 5FU....From March 2005 until May 2005...... Didn't help ....

Then he started Oxaliplatin in June 2005..... Until Oct. 2005 when he had a very serious reaction..... He had 8 cycles....

He was off chemo from Oct. 2005 until Oct. 2006 when the cancer started to grow again.... Yes off chemo for a year..... The Oxaliplatin had held the cancer from growing all that time....

He started Erbitux and CPT-11 in Buffalo { Oct. 2006 until Jan 2007 }  Didn't help.....

Then he started a VEGF trial from Feb. 2007 until Jan. 2008 .....  When it stopped working.... 

Now he's started a new clinical trial { FAK } since March 2008 ..... He had a PET-SCAN and it showed stable.....

My husband was given 2 years to live in 2005..... He has good days and bad days..... He now weighs 155 lbs from 214 lbs.... He is able to drive our van somedays and sometimes not..... My husband is 54 years old.....

You & your family are in our thoughts & prayers..... Your dad should seek treatment..... Doctors are wrong..... And everyone reponds differently....

 

 

 

 

 

On 5/12/2008 Kareny wrote:

Thanks so much for the input!  He is not wanting to go through the chemo again, he says he is 76 years old and if he were younger he would.  I still don't know what to do. Ultimately, it is his decision, but I want to stear him in the right direction.

On 5/11/2008 JKBEANS wrote:

My father had Stage IV colon cancer, had it resected, has a colostomy, and went through six months of chemo. He finished in Dec. of 2007. In January they did a PET/CT scan which showed some minimal cancer in his pelvic area and a little around the ostomy site. They wanted to leave him off of chemo for two months and then get another PET scan. Medicare wouldn't let him get a PET scan March (because it hadn't been 90 days), They moved it to April and then they declined it again saying there wasn't enough reason to have it done. They finally got a CAT scan instead the last of April and it showed metastasis to the liver and one spot on his lung (all of which were not there in January). The question is this:  they gave him less than six months if he doesn't have more chemo. They said 1 - 6 years if he had chemo. My dad doesn't really want to go through it again. He is 76 years old. Should I encourage him to do it or not. What are the odds really of him lasting 6 years????

Hi JK    My husband was dianozed with stage 3 colon cancer in June 2001...  He had surgery and 6 months of 5FU after the surgery healed....

The cancer returned in 2005 .... Stage 4 ... with meds to his liver & lungs.... 

He started CPT-11 & 5FU....From March 2005 until May 2005...... Didn't help ....

Then he started Oxaliplatin in June 2005..... Until Oct. 2005 when he had a very serious reaction..... He had 8 cycles....

He was off chemo from Oct. 2005 until Oct. 2006 when the cancer started to grow again.... Yes off chemo for a year..... The Oxaliplatin had held the cancer from growing all that time....

He started Erbitux and CPT-11 in Buffalo { Oct. 2006 until Jan 2007 }  Didn't help.....

Then he started a VEGF trial from Feb. 2007 until Jan. 2008 .....  When it stopped working.... 

Now he's started a new clinical trial { FAK } since March 2008 ..... He had a PET-SCAN and it showed stable.....

My husband was given 2 years to live in 2005..... He has good days and bad days..... He now weighs 155 lbs from 214 lbs.... He is able to drive our van somedays and sometimes not..... My husband is 54 years old.....

You & your family are in our thoughts & prayers..... Your dad should seek treatment..... Doctors are wrong..... And everyone reponds differently....

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, could you please elaborate more on the clinical trials?

VEGF and FAK

 Thanks

 

On 5/12/2008 Mike47 wrote:

Hi, could you please elaborate more on the clinical trials?

VEGF and FAK

 Thanks

Hi Mike     VEGF-TRAP is a cousin of Avastin..... At the time my husband was on the VEGF-TRAP { phase 2 trial } it was experiment and not approved by Health Canada or the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Side Effects .... Likely....Hypertension high blood pressure }, proteinuria { protein in your urine }, tiredness.

Less likely... Low white blood count, anorexia { no appetite }, constipation, nausea and vomiting, ,joint pain, hoarseness of voice, low red blood count, diarrhea, dizziness, back pain, abdomen pain, muscle pain, headaches, cough...

Rare.... bleeding, blood clot, stroke, chest pain, shortness of breath, decreased heart muscle function, catastrophic hemorrhage.

My husband had hoarseness of voice, some headaches, tireness and proteinuria.......

 

FAK { focal adhesion kinase } PF-00562271 trial { phase 1 } is being run in Canada & United States.....  

 

Some Doctors can be wrong but most are pretty reliable.  Mine have been and it is not luck on my part.  They have done very good by me.  You will find that many patients and caregivers have that same opinion.

We have found that most doctors don't like to give time lines..... My husband wanted a time line & the doctor didn't want to give him one..... Finally he did ..... He did say if you want you can get a second opinion ....

He has since left and gone into research.... We really liked him... My husband was on three clinical trials with him.... Plus he sent us out of country for treatment.... He was pro active .....

The doctor that took over for him since has run out of treatments for my husband.....He didn't want to give a time line either, but did..... Multiple months.......  And said he could send my husband elsewhere to see if they had any clinical trials that my husband could get in.... That's what we did....  

My husbands new doctor took one look at him & said you have one year.....  Without seeing any of my husband's last scans.... I said how can you say that without seeing the scan results.... After talking to them we went home..... Down as hell...... Next thing there phoning us for his next appt..... To see if he can get into a trial.....  WHAT ???? ....  The way they were talking to us before, it was like there was no hope..... 

They offered two trials..... If he qualifed....

My husband had a pet-scan, CT, Muga test { heart } , bloodwork done...... He qualifed for the FAK trial.....  

                                                           Kareny