On 5/29/2008
TerryC wrote:
On 5/12/2008
William8 wrote:
My wife 36 now has battled rectal cancer for 2 years with a reccurent tumor at the 1st resection site in Jan 08. She just had the second resection and unfortunately had to get a colostomy this time. Also during surgery a lymph node was found 2 inches from the aorta valve that goes to the heart, it was determined cancer after about 10 seconds. We are awaiting the pathology report.
Has anyone had anything similiar to my wife happen to them. I am just wandering about the lymph node involvement so high up.
Thanks!
I was diagnosed with rectal cancer with spread to the lymph nodes (groin area and chest near heart) 17 monrhs ago. In my case we decided to enter chemo (5FU, Avasten, Oxeplatin) to address the lymph nodes and do the surgery after the node problem was addressed. As it turned out, after 6 months of chemo the cancer did not show on a PET scan. The rectal tumor was also gone! We ceased treatment and after six months the cancer showed a small amount of activity in the chest lymph node area. Once again I did six months of chemo and the scan shows clear again and the tumor has not returned. I now take 5FU pills daily. Hopefully your wife will be able to receive treatment and have positive results.....I hold this thought for all my brother and sister cancer patients. Keep a positive additude and fight the good fight!
Terry
Hi- I'm interested in the 5FU daily pills you take. Is it the same as taking Xeloda? I hadn't heard of any kind of "maintenance" chemo program for rectal cancer. I went through the 6 months of chemo also (Folfox and Avastin)- I had mets to liver and lungs & just went through a recent liver resection. Anyway, after 6 weeks of radiation/chemo following the 6 months of the major chemo, my rectal tumor also disappeared! I'm so glad to hear of someone else this happened to also. I did not have the rectal resection because it was completely gone. I wonder if it's possible if I ever have a recurrence in the rectal site to do the radation/chemo again, rather than just jump right in to the rectal resection. I believe the main reason to do a rectal resection is to avoid it spreading to other organs- well mine already had. It was due to such a good response to the chemo, however, that I was even able to have the liver resection. Originially, I had 12 tumors shrunk down to 3(althougI actually originally had 15, because they discovered 3 more during my surgery that never showed up on any scans). Please tell me more about the 5FU pills and is it keeping what appears to be active disease at bay, or is it actually maintenance to hopefully prevent any more recurrence? Lisa