Mesothelomia

Yes, my father in law has peritoneal mesothelomia. The cancer is in the adominal lining. It is more rare than the plueral tx. He has survived longer than a year. He was diagnosised May or June of 2005. He had symptoms that I noticed since November of 2004. He began tx with a combination of Alimta and Cisplatin Chemo therapy in June or July of 2005. Then in November he went to Dr. Loggie for surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible. Once they removed what they could they heated a chemo drug and administered it directly into the adominal cavitiy to kill more of the cancer. That surgery has greatly reduced if not eliminated the ascites (water in the stomach area). He continued with the 21 day cycle of the Alimta and Cisplatin chemo tx. He was just taken off the Cisplatin because he can no longer tolerate this chemo. They are continuing him on the Alimta. There are similiar tx's specifically for Plueral (lungs) Mesothelomia. You can look up Dr. Sugarbaker. There are two Dr. Sugarbaker's, they are brothers. One treats Perotineal and the other treats Plueral. There is less info. on the tx for Periocardial Mesothelomia. I hope this is helpful. Theresa

Theresa, I am new to this site and saw your post about your father-in-law's mesothelioma. I know it has been 9 months since you posted. How is your father-in-law? My brother was diagnosed less than a week ago with the same cancer. He has only been sick since the week before Christmas. The local doctors didn't know what type of cancer he had so he went to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Philly. They operated and removed a large tumor in the adnominal cavity and drained fluid. That was 2 weeks ago today. He made steady progress until a few days ago when he got an infection and the fluid build up made it impossible to breathe. He is on a breathing tube and they drained more fluid yesterday. It will be weeks until he is strong enough to receive chemo. The cancer has already spread. What worked best for your father-in-law? Any words of wisdom would be appreciated. Louisa

 

On 1/30/2007 Pickwicks wrote:

Theresa, I am new to this site and saw your post about your father-in-law's mesothelioma. I know it has been 9 months since you posted. How is your father-in-law? My brother was diagnosed less than a week ago with the same cancer. He has only been sick since the week before Christmas. The local doctors didn't know what type of cancer he had so he went to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Philly. They operated and removed a large tumor in the adnominal cavity and drained fluid. That was 2 weeks ago today. He made steady progress until a few days ago when he got an infection and the fluid build up made it impossible to breathe. He is on a breathing tube and they drained more fluid yesterday. It will be weeks until he is strong enough to receive chemo. The cancer has already spread. What worked best for your father-in-law? Any words of wisdom would be appreciated. Louisa

 

I am sorry that it took me so long to respond.  I am just now checking cancer compass.  How is your brother?  I am sorry to hear about the diagnosis.  I think that the surgery we had with Dr. Loggie has been a bit of a miracle.  My father-in-law is doing well.  His CT scans continue to show improvement.  Sometimes I am hopeful that he has been cured.  But that is hope not based in reality.  The sad truth is that this cancer is not yet curable.  He had his last chemo tx with Alimta May of 2005.  He knows that his time is limited, so he is doing all of the things that he has put off.  I am grateful that he has this time.  There appears to be something going on in the CT scan.  The doctors do not seem to be alarmed or concerned.  But I am, there is a small growth that showed shrinkage.  They do not think it is cancer.  But we have to keep an eye out for our selves and give total control to the doctors.  He goes in for a follow up test next month.  I tell you all this so you know there is hope and that there are effective treatments.  Let me know if you have any additional questions.  Best of luck, Theresa

Theresa, I it so wonderful that your father-in-law is doing so well. My brother died a few days after I posted my message. The meothelioma apparently caused a leakage from his stomach and he became septic. He was on life support for several days. We only found out that he had mesothelioma about a week and a half before he died. He had no knowledge about any asbestos exposure. Since I have now done quite a bit of research on this cancer, I have found so many things that contained asbestos, that we the public were unaware of. He was born with 2 club feet and had numerous operations and casts put on. Now we learn that plaster contained asbestos. So he no doubt was exposed when they sawed them off. I am sure that you have seen how the asbestos industry operated for so many years. Do you know how your father-in-law was exposed? I hope that your father-in-law continues to do well- let us hope and pray that a cure comes soon. Thanks for your reply. Louisa

 

On 1/30/2007 Pickwicks wrote:

Theresa, I am new to this site and saw your post about your father-in-law's mesothelioma. I know it has been 9 months since you posted. How is your father-in-law? My brother was diagnosed less than a week ago with the same cancer. He has only been sick since the week before Christmas. The local doctors didn't know what type of cancer he had so he went to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Philly. They operated and removed a large tumor in the adnominal cavity and drained fluid. That was 2 weeks ago today. He made steady progress until a few days ago when he got an infection and the fluid build up made it impossible to breathe. He is on a breathing tube and they drained more fluid yesterday. It will be weeks until he is strong enough to receive chemo. The cancer has already spread. What worked best for your father-in-law? Any words of wisdom would be appreciated. Louisa

Hi Louisa,

How is your brother doing.  Theresa

Louisa,

My father-in-law passed away in May.  We miss him and talk about him frequently.  I am sorry to hear that your brother passed away so quickly.   My father-in-law was exposed as a mechanic.  We and he had no idea that automobiles, trucks, semi's and dump trucks had so much asbestos in the parts that were on the vehicles and that the replacement parts were made from asbestos.  My husband was a young boy and recalls the dust from the grinding machines.  It turns out that the dust contained asbestos.  The really sad thing is that my husband was there in the shop with him doing his homework and I believe was exposed as well.  My father-in-law was exposed from the time he was a small child.  His father was also a mechanic and he helped him in the garage from the time he could walk.  My father-in-law also helped his father build several homes.  We have since found out that asbestos is in items like drywall mud, roofing materials, flooring, and countless other products.