On 5/1/2008 Miss Betty The Mom wrote:
On 4/28/2008
lisaann wrote:
Hello,
I'm just wondering if anyone wishes to share their experience on having liver resection surgery vs. treating liver tumors with other means such as cyberknife, cryotherapy, or radio frequency ablation.
I meet with the liver specialist at UCSD this Thursday, May 1st & I know he'll want to push the resection. It seems to make more sense, but I'm wondering if it might be possible to treat with other noninvasive methods instead.
My situation is that I had stage IV rectal cancer with mets to both liver & lungs. I had amazing results to my chemo (and I believe God's touch, for sure!) My rectal tumor is now completely gone, everything in my lungs is gone, & I'm down from 12 liver tumors to just 3! These 3 no longer show up "hot" on the PET scan. I know they need to come out, but am wondering which is the best approach. Mr Dr. proposes removing the entire left lobe of the liver (2 of the 3 tumors are there) and doing a wedge resection on the right lobe for the other tumor. I formerly had multiple other tumors in both lobes, which have now completely resolved, with the exception of these 3. The largest of the 3 now measures 2.7 cm. across.
Any advice or sharing of stories would be appreciated- also anyone who had liver resection such as this- how long did it take you to recover both internally, energy wise, and so far as the cut/scar? I'm 41 yrs old & have done very well with my chemo and not having many side effects, so I hope that I would heal pretty quickly.
Thanks in advance,
Lisa
Lisaann, could you share what chemo you received with us? It sounds
like it really worked for you. My son Mark who is now 48 is in a
similar situation as you were when you had numbers of liver tumors in
both lobes.He seems to be stable after much chemo; the tumors have
shrank from original size but he still has the same number of liver
tumors. His chemo was old traditional chemo like cisplatin, Flurouricil
(5FU). I am looking around to see if there is anything else for him
such as the Sir Spheres Yettium beads. I did have him evaluated and he
was a candidate for cyberknife a couple of years ago but it was so
expensive and he had no insurance. Now he has medicare. Keep us posted
on what your liver specialist says and what you decide to have in the way of treatment.
I write a blog about Mark and you can google the next adventure cancer and find it.
Miss Betty the mom
Hi Betty,
The chemo I had was called Folfox + Avastin. The Folfox part of consisted of 5-FU, Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin. I was infused with these 4 once every two weeks. I'd go in on a Wednesday, get the infusion for about 4 hrs., then go home with a pump of 5-FU plugged into me for the next 46 hours. From what I gather, the Avastin was the new big drug that probably was the lifesaver here. As with all, there are side effects- mine weren't too bad, except that it caused my blood pressure to skyrocket- I managed okay by taking blood pressure medication. My blood pressure is now (3 months later) completely normal again.
Best wishes for your son! I see the liver specialist today- I'll try to remember to post here again after I know and have decided which approach to go with- liver resection surgery or cyberknife.
Blessings to you-
Lisa