Liver Resection

Hello my friend had a liver resection on Jan 13 2006. Klatskin tumor was removed but could not get negative margins. Also removed gallbladder and reconnected bile duct to small intestine. Cancer cells were also present in arteries and portal vein around liver, and also one more bile duct. Her doctor was at Emory in Atlanta and is a wonderful doctor, but it seems you can't get a prognois out of him. We go back in 4 weeks and he said then we would go futher. She hasn't seen an oncologist yet. Doc said she had to heal from this first. Has anyone experienced this kind of hurry and wait.

charmaine

I know some chemos, etc. or in our case the avastin 'helper drug' could not be administered for 6 weeks after surgery b/c of bleeding. we actually put off surgery b/c we had to start chem and get the liver mets under control. but don't wait and don't let them stall. for them it could be a few weeks for you it could be the difference in reigning it in in time and letting it get too far gone. be persistent!

Thanks for the input. I will certainly be persistant this woman is like a mother to me and she is 75. I'm not ready to throw in towel on her and just want to make sure doctors aren't either. Her entire wound from surgery had to be opened and we pack it every day. She also had an infection in blood before surgery, maybe these are the reasons they want to wait for some kind of treatment, don't know but I will find out.
She had naseau and jaudice really bad before surgery and has lost 20lbs since Thanksgiving.
Since we have gotten her home she has been eating great and looks less yellow since surgery but energy hasn't returned. I guess this could be because there are still some cancer left.
Thanks for reading and listening to me.

My wife Dawn had a liver resection done on Jan 12th (Cholangiocarcinoma,Klatskin Tumor). She is home recovering after an 11 day stay in Chicago's Rush University hospital. Her margins were negative and nearby lymph nodes were nagative. We are looking into what else should be done from here. We have not seen an oncologist yet but plan on it soon.

God bless, hope things go well for your friend.

Thanks for replying and good luck to your wife. My friend didn't get negative margins but we are still in the fight till the Lord takes her out.
Went to doctor Feb 1 and said she looked great for a surgery like this. Asked about oncologist, said we would be seeing one of emorys best. After reading reports from doc things aren't looking good. But we will see.

Charmaine