Hello,
I'm just wondering if anyone wishes to share their experience if you've had metastases to the liver after rectal cancer (or any cancer), then needed liver resection surgery. I'm also very curious about 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,