Clean CT

Hooray...

Two years since I was last treated for Stage IV G/E junction adenocarcinoma and another clean CT scan....  every extra day is a blessing.

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!  Love to hear about people beating cancer.

Did you have surgery??  Or just chemo?

 

I had 3 mos chemo, surgery, 5 wks of chemo/radiation, then 3 more months of chemo.  It was worth it.

Congratulations to you...what wonderful and hopefu news!  My husband was recently diagnosed with stage 4 GEJ cancer...met to liver which seems to be heavily affected.  At this time he is considered "not curable" but are treating with chemo to manage it.  I was really happy to see a success story with this, as the statistics are discouraging.  Thank you for sharing...

Congrats!!! I was diagnosed with Stage IIIB G/I cancer 19 months ago and had a total gastrectomy, spleenectomy and took half my pancreas and partial esophagus.  Did the chemo/rad thing too and just got clean results a couple weeks ago.  Sounds like you were a little further along than me so its very nice to hear a good story.  I am at a point where I am starting to get very scared as I feel incredibly good after 18 months of hell and don't want to go back to where I was.  I literally break down after getting my results as its so overwhelming and feel like Ive got another 3 months.  Never thought i wasnt going to make it but there are so many sad stories.  Im only 39, so feel like I have so much to live for like my wife and little daughter.  Great job and thanks for posting your success.

Steve

Congratulations on the clean CT! It gives me hope for my mom. :)

If I could please ask you a couple of questions. My mom was diagnosed with stage 3B stomach cancer.  She had a partial gastrectomy about 5 weeks ago and last week she started chemo. After the inital consultation with the oncologist, we decided that we needed a 2nd opinion.  The first thing that this Dr wanted to have done was a CT scan for benchmark purposes.  (which completely makes sense) They said that her CT's came out "clean". I understand that that means that they cannot see any cancer with the naked eye....so does that mean that the chemo and radiation that she is going to undergo is percautionary?

Also, are the side effects for chemo worse than radiation? This is all just so new to me.

 

Thanks

Hi Geckoz,

I hope your Mom is doing well. 

A CT scan can detect cancer when the cancer cells create a mass or something observable.  I don't think they can see a small cancer cluster and definitely can't see small cells that migrate away from a tumor.  Chemo and radiation are used to kill cells that haven't been removed by surgery.  Some cells may remain around the surgical site or may have moved elsewhere (via the lymphatic system or circulatory system.)  So, in a sense post-surgical chemo and radiation are precautionary. 

On the other hand, with stomach cancer, if the mass has grown outside the stomach, or if cancer cells are dislodged during surgery into the lymph or blood system, there is a chance the cancer cells are still around somewhere.  Chemo and radiation can kill these cells, preventing a new growth.

I was more than happy to get post-surgical chemo and radiation in an effort to kill any remaining micro-clusters of cancer cells.

It is tough to say whether chemo or radiation are more difficult to tolerate.  It depends on the type of chemo and the location/size of the target for radiation.  My chemo was not too bad.  I had IV Carboplatin and oral Xeloda.  I tolerated the chemo fairly well, all things considered. 

For radiation I had 5 angle, IMRT, targeted from the top of my chest to the beginings of my intestinal tract (upper sternum to lower abdomen).  Since my mass was at the gastric/esophageal junction, I had a section of esophagus surgically removed in addition to most of my stomach.  This was a large target.  They couldn't avoid hitting my bronchial tubes and lungs.  I also took oral chemo (Xeloda) while I had radiation. 

Even so, it wasn't too bad.  When I finished chemo/radiation I was exhausted, weak, lost a lot of weight, had a bad cough from the damage to bronchial my tubes and lungs, and nauseated.   It took a few weeks to recover.  The side effects of radiation persist for a while after the treatments.

Since your Mom was stage 3.  There is less chance that the cancer has spread.  But there is still a chance.  My cancer was stage 4, involving several lymph nodes outside the stomach in my abdomen, so there was good  chance I had some cancer cells that had spread. 

Best wishes,

Tom

 

Tom,

Your situation sounds almost identical to mine except they removed all of my stomach along with my spleen and half the pancreas.  I agree with all you have to say.  My IV and oral chemo wasnt as bad as the radiation that sent me to the hospital for a week as I stopped eating and had extreme nausea. 

Regarding the need for chemo/radiation, I was told that the CT scan can't detect any cancer until it gets to about the size of a pea.  Therefore, the need to kill off any remaining undetected cells is very important. 

Challenging process, but after 19 months since my surgery, I am doing really well right now and actually down in mexico this week enjoying all the food and tequila I can get. 

Cheers and good luck,

Steve