CancerCompass message board discussion started by Suinoregon on 7/7/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,25807,0.htm Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Hi,My mom has Stage 4 rectal cancer, spread to her lungs last fall. We now have 3 well-respected surgeons willing to do surgery to remove 11 nodules from both sides of her lungs. But other docs say there are no studies that show that it will help prolong her life and at least one oncologist said she would not have her mother go through the surgery. Our family is wrestling with what to do. We don't want her to suffer needless pain from the surgery but we want every possible chance at saving her. She has two new grandbabies.Has anyone else been in a similar situation and decided to go for surgery? Some doctors are surprised to hear the surgeons are willing to operate. Do surgeons just want to cut? Why are we getting such different answers from different doctors? My mom is on Xeloda and Avastin, which have greatly improved her quality of life. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.Thank you,Su Suinoregon Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 7/7/2008 Suinoregon wrote:Hi,My mom has Stage 4 rectal cancer, spread to her lungs last fall. We now have 3 well-respected surgeons willing to do surgery to remove 11 nodules from both sides of her lungs. But other docs say there are no studies that show that it will help prolong her life and at least one oncologist said she would not have her mother go through the surgery.Our family is wrestling with what to do. We don't want her to suffer needless pain from the surgery but we want every possible chance at saving her. She has two new grandbabies.Has anyone else been in a similar situation and decided to go for surgery? Some doctors are surprised to hear the surgeons are willing to operate. Do surgeons just want to cut? Why are we getting such different answers from different doctors? My mom is on Xeloda and Avastin, which have greatly improved her quality of life. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.Thank you,Su I am very sorry to hear about your mom, I saw the met to the lungs and wanted to actually ask you a question. My wife is 36 and has recurrent rectal cancer and it has spread to not so nearby lymph nodes and now one of her lungs had 1500 cc of fluid build up and the oncologist are saying it is possibly being caused by met cancer to the lung.  I was just curious if your mother had this symptom.  Other than the fluid in the lung she is having pain when taking deep breathes and when she yawns.  I am sorry I dont have any answers to your questions.  I hope that your mom will be ok. Thanks! William8 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT The one thing that I have learned from my whole cancer ordeal is to let the specialist do his/her own thing and quit worrying about what the other specialists say.  In other words, the onc is NOT the surgeon and should NOT be saying anything about whether the surgery should or shouldn't be performed.  Likewise, I don't want a surgeon giving me advice on chemo-to do or not do to.  Same thing with rad oncs.  It can oftentimes be difficult when the onc, for example, has his/her own opinion  on the total treatment package and worse yet, when he/she verbalizes it to the patient and the patient's family.  I would seriously ask the surgeon the questions that you are concerned about.  Pick the surgeon that you like the best and flat out ask him/her about the side effects, long term effects, pain/suffering aspect of the surgery - basically find out WHY the onc wouldn't have his own mother do the surgery.  Ask the surgeons what they expect from the surgery vs the risks and after effects of the surgery.  Present all of this information to your mother and let her make the decision because it is hers to make.  Before you go in, write all your questions down and better yet, find out specifics from the onc why he feels the way he does.  I have found that many oncs are not willing to step 'outside the box' when it comes to treatment options.  If this surgery doesn't have horrific long term side effects and maybe only has a (I am making this up) a 30% chance of prolonging life, an onc might not feel that that is good enough.  However, that, again is not HIS/HER decision but rather your moms.  If no patient was willing to take the risk then our cancer treatments would never improve.  I am not saying that your mom should or shouldn't have the surgery - just that she needs to hear ALL aspects - pros and cons- from the surgeon, and not just the onc.  Push for the answers and don't let the surgeon dismiss you.  It's a tough call, but one that, I believe with all the information, that your mom can make.Good luckJaynee soccermom Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT  I'm so sorry about your wife. My mom did not have any symptoms re: her lungs. Doc found it on a routine follow up CT scan just 5 months after she quit chemo. I hope your wife will be OK. It's horrible at any age but I'm so sorry she's dealing with it so young.My mom has decided to have the surgeries. Now we're looking for input on the best thoracic surgeons in the country. We've met with Dr. Sugarbaker in Boston and Dr. McKenna at UCLA. Has anyone had any experiences with either doc or have any recommendations on how to figure out which is the best one?Thanks for any help. On 7/7/2008 William8 wrote: On 7/7/2008 Suinoregon wrote:Hi,My mom has Stage 4 rectal cancer, spread to her lungs last fall. We now have 3 well-respected surgeons willing to do surgery to remove 11 nodules from both sides of her lungs. But other docs say there are no studies that show that it will help prolong her life and at least one oncologist said she would not have her mother go through the surgery.Our family is wrestling with what to do. We don't want her to suffer needless pain from the surgery but we want every possible chance at saving her. She has two new grandbabies.Has anyone else been in a similar situation and decided to go for surgery? Some doctors are surprised to hear the surgeons are willing to operate. Do surgeons just want to cut? Why are we getting such different answers from different doctors? My mom is on Xeloda and Avastin, which have greatly improved her quality of life. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.Thank you,Su I am very sorry to hear about your mom, I saw the met to the lungs and wanted to actually ask you a question. My wife is 36 and has recurrent rectal cancer and it has spread to not so nearby lymph nodes and now one of her lungs had 1500 cc of fluid build up and the oncologist are saying it is possibly being caused by met cancer to the lung.  I was just curious if your mother had this symptom.  Other than the fluid in the lung she is having pain when taking deep breathes and when she yawns.  I am sorry I dont have any answers to your questions.  I hope that your mom will be ok. Thanks!  Suinoregon Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT