My mom 86yr old is having gallbladder cancer and Parkinson disease.
.The gallbladder was resected in Aug 2006, and cancer was found inside.
.In Dec 2006, local recurrence in the bile duct near the left hapatic duct, she was treated with Tomotherapy, an image guided RT treatment, to 54Gy in 15 fractions .
.Then she had one cycle of oral drug called Xeloda as chemotherapy in March 2007. She then got gastro-intestinal problems, and treatment stopped.
.Pet scan report in early April 2007 stated that the size of her tumour was diminishing and the metabolic rate of the lesion is decreased from 8.5 to 4.5. Normal is 2.5.
.She been suffering malnutrition owing to stomach problems after chemo. Now she is having Omega-3 fish oil (9g per day) and Amino acid pills (18g per day) as supplements and Prosure drinks. Her weight is getting back, and is still staying at home. Her condition is in general very good as a 86yr old lady, except getting a bit sleepy and tired. Except occaisionally stomach heart burn and constipation, there is not other complaint
.For cancer treatment, we opt for immunotherapy which is less aggressive. She is nowing having 400mg coenzyme Q10 per day and 3g of PSK, a proteinpolysaccharide immunopotentiator, extracted from the Coriolus vesicolor. PSK is proven to be useful as an adjuvent therapy in Japan for many forms of cancers.
.So far her condition is quite stable. When her appetite and weight return, we will start Xeloda therapy again for another 5 cycles, or may be in very low dose.
.Our oncologist suggests that we can use Gemcitabine if the cancer progression comes back, but we will reserve it as last resort.