On 8/7/2009 Mriani wrote:
On 8/7/2009 Maudsie wrote:
-----quote------ On 8/6/2009 Mriani wrote: My mother has been diagnosed for gallbladder cancer, advanced stage. The doctirs says it has crossed stage II. the result of CA 19-9 is pending which would confirm whether it is in stage 3 or stage 4. Present Treatment - The doctores suggests that it has reached blood vessels and therefore would go for Chemotherapy to control the dividing cells and if it would help in reducing the effect then probably they would go for surgery. I want to know what are the chances of success in this treatment and stage and what is average lifespan at this stage. Hello Mriani -- I am glad you found this site. If you do an internet search for gallbladder cancer, you can learn a lot.....but there are very few of us that actually have gbc (I do), and this is a good place to find some of us, or find their family members. Your question about average life span is difficult to answer, partially because it is different for everyone, and partly because it is unsure what stage your mother is actually in. Stage II is not very advanced at all, and people with more advanced types can still live for quite a few years or more with good treatment....just depends. I will tell you that a CA 19-9 will NOT reveal what stage cancer one has. It is just an indicator and not a particularly accurate one at that. surgery is the first line of defense, if the tumor is removable that way, and chemo and radiation are also used. Please let us know more information about your mother. My thoughts are with you, this is a difficult disease. Maudsie
Thanks for your message Maudsie. The result CA 19-9 has come and indeeed it hasn't confirmed the stage . BTW my mum jas crossed stage II B and is probably in Stage III or IV.
The doctor has suggest Radiation therapy but I'm concerned about its after affects. Would this bring down her quality of life? We are however planning to go ahead with this. She dont know all this yet but before the therapy starts we got to tell her.
May i know which stage are you in in and what would you suggest as precautions and other measures to ahve good life as long as possible.
Hi Mriani -- if the doctors think that radiation is an option at this stage to target the tumor, and this advise is coming from experienced medical opinion, I say go for it. I had radiation and found it to be no big deal. Some people get a sort of temporary sunburn on the skin in the targeted area, I did not. And it is said that it can cause fatigue, but I didn't have much of this, either. My radiation was delivered during the same period of time that I also took an oral form of chemo called "Xeloda" which is supposed to help the radiation work by weakening the cancer cells and making them more vunerable to the radiation effect. I had radiation every weekday for several weeks. Inconvenient, yes, but not too hard to deal with physically. Obviously there are risks associated, but worth it I feel.
I am lucky to have an early stage of GBC, Stage IIB. Spread to liver, removed with surgery, but so far, no where else. Any spread outside of the gallbladder, however, is usually treated aggressively: chemo for sure, radiation and/or more surgery where possible.
Keep in touch!
M.