Is This The End Of The Road For Me..?

Hello peeps,

Just got my latest scan and it's horrible. Liver tumour is all over the place and the lung mets are increasing in number. My last chemo has failed. What's worse is I'm now having the starting signs of liver failure, ie. pain in liver area, jaundice, regular fever and ascites (this one gives me a lot of problem, can't walk/sleep/eat properly).

One oncologist have nothing else to offer and talked more on palliative care. Basically, try to make yourself as comfortable as possible while waiting for your time to come.

The other has suggested the PAF chemo regime (cisplatin + adramycin + 5FU) but even he is sceptical I will respond after having tried 2 previous chemos. And I dislike this regime because it's very toxic (lots of side-effects) and requires lots of time at the hospital which I'm getting sick of.

Will talk to more doctors soon but with no clinical trial in sight over here (I shuffle between my home country of Malaysia and neighbour Singapore), I doubt anyone has anything else to offer. What worries me are the signs of liver failure I'm developing - they usually herald that the end is near, no?

Anyway, anyone with any suggestions are deeply welcomed. Any particular chemo / treatment worked for you guys? Thanks.

Brief medical history:
- recurrent HCC with lung mets
- 1st chemo: Avastin + Xeloda
- 2nd chemo: Gemcitabine + Oxaliplatin (GEMOX)
- LFT getting worse, AFP 7000+
- developed jaundice and ascites


-seage

Dear Seage,
Hang in there. I can only imagine how tough it must be. I've written before about my husband's HCC (diagnosed late April 2005). He had success with Tarceva for 5 months; by "success" I mean that the cancer didn't progress according to ctscans and the AFP. He had to stop Tarceva because it probably caused a bleeding ulcer at the end of March. Without Tarceva the AFP went from 5000 to nearly 15,000. He's on Tarceva again as of June 14 but has recently stopped for a few days because another ulcer may be forming (stomach pains).
Possibilities for treatment: have you looked into Zadaxin? It's supposed to boost the immune system and was developed for liver disease. It's used for liver cancer in China and elsewhere in Asia, and may prolong survival without side effects. Other possibilities: low-dose interferon and/or thalidomide; Tarceva alone or with Celebrex; gene therapy in China (!); mushroom extracts in pill form such as coriolos v. or diet changes (green veggy drinks, no salt, etc) meditation...it may help. However things go, in all our lives, there is this moment to breathe anew and live. Prayers and best wishes for you, mjane

First let me say I'm LITERALLY with you - I'm not jaundiced yet but otherwise I could almost have written your email.  I've been told when you get jaundiced and lose your appetite you probably only have a week or so to live - but they also told me most people die of this within 18 months and I've been fighting now for over 26.

Just a thought - I've had problems sleeping etc. since my FIRST chemo sessions, are you sure the acetis is the problem with that?  I've tried pretty much everything for that but the only things that seem to work are very hard on the liver (drugs) so I just deal with it like I am tonight (got online and started typing) ...

Remember that we all die someday from something - just try to do a few things that you'll be proud of before you go and then enjoy what life you have left.  God bless!

John Bunton

 

On 7/25/2006 Seage wrote:

Hello peeps, Just got my latest scan and it's horrible. Liver tumour is all over the place and the lung mets are increasing in number. My last chemo has failed. What's worse is I'm now having the starting signs of liver failure, ie. pain in liver area, jaundice, regular fever and ascites (this one gives me a lot of problem, can't walk/sleep/eat properly). One oncologist have nothing else to offer and talked more on palliative care. Basically, try to make yourself as comfortable as possible while waiting for your time to come. The other has suggested the PAF chemo regime (cisplatin + adramycin + 5FU) but even he is sceptical I will respond after having tried 2 previous chemos. And I dislike this regime because it's very toxic (lots of side-effects) and requires lots of time at the hospital which I'm getting sick of. Will talk to more doctors soon but with no clinical trial in sight over here (I shuffle between my home country of Malaysia and neighbour Singapore), I doubt anyone has anything else to offer. What worries me are the signs of liver failure I'm developing - they usually herald that the end is near, no? Anyway, anyone with any suggestions are deeply welcomed. Any particular chemo / treatment worked for you guys? Thanks. Brief medical history: - recurrent HCC with lung mets - 1st chemo: Avastin + Xeloda - 2nd chemo: Gemcitabine + Oxaliplatin (GEMOX) - LFT getting worse, AFP 7000+ - developed jaundice and ascites -seage