Good Liver Surgery Stories?

nanuk said:

I know nothing about your type of surgery, but your concerns could be justified; there are over 100,000 in-patient mistakes every year. You might reduce some of your stress over this issue by asking your doctor how many of these surgeries he/she has done, and the number of successful outcomes. Nanuk

StacyGleaso said:

Hi Maria...wait a minute, let me get my pom poms...ok, here goes...........

I had a very, very successful liver surgery. My gallbladder was also removed in the process. It was removed not because it was affected by cancer, but because it helps get a clean shot at the liver. And even though all my parts were not put back, I had no problems. None. Nada. Zilch. Not one. The tumor on my liver was able to be seen at the base of my rib cage poking through my skin. This was no tiny freckle-sized tumor! And today, I have had no complications whatsoever! Now, if I were you, I'd tell those docs to BRING IT ON! By having it before the end of the year, you can wrap things up using this year's insurance deductible. Additionally, the sooner it's out, the sooner you can meet my friend NED. Furthermore, I think everyone is a little happier and optimistic during the holiday season, and this would be a great gift for the docs to give to you! Finally, you can start the year off with a clean slate! 2006 is GUARANTEED to be better with less cancer inside!

So, there you have it. Now, I am going to take off this silly cheerleading skirt since it's snowy and cold today, but hey, anything for a friend!

All my best,
Stacy

glimmerofhope said:

I had literally half of my liver cut out almost three years ago. While it was no cakewalk, obviously, I am still here to write this note! Also, I am 47 years old and can still beat the best player on my undefeated 15 year old rec league basketball team one-on-one! (I've had thoroscopic surgery on both my lungs too, but that's another story)

I'm no real fan of surgeons (they love to cut since it is very profitable), but I would recommend you get an opinion from Dr Bryan Clary at Duke Hospital. He also installed a hepatic arterial injection pump during the surgery. The chemo that I received through this gizmo implanted under my skin went directly into my liver which processes almost all the chemo and everything went fine until I was 50 days into my 82 days of treatment and then BAM! I was in the hospital for a week due to the toxicity of the treatment to my liver...

The amount of chemo per body weight that is given has been consistently reduced over the last several years since this stuff is so toxic. As you are probably aware, the liver grows back in 4-6 weeks and I probably could have lived to a ripe old age if I had had no cancer return in my liver. The reason I did the arterial injection pump was that >80% don't have cancer return to their liver 2 years after the surgery and this has been true for me (it's now in my lungs) Since this chemo treatment severely and to some extent permanently damaged my liver, I'm somewhat on the fence as to whether I did the right thing. This chemo caused my bile duct drain to get blocked requiring stents to be installed 4 times to allow the wastes to get out of my liver (3 temporary stents and finally a permanent one...installed through your stomach and small intesting and take a right turn into the bifroncation with the pancreas drain.)

I got very jaundiced when my bile duct drains got blocked and my eyes were yellow like the wolfman... My liver was working OK, but the wastes just couldn't drain out. I felt miserable with the high bilirubin and jaundice, but this went away within a day after the stents were installed.

If you think you might be interested in the hepatic arterial injection pump stuff, there is a thorough write-up in the New England Journal of Medicine about 4 year ago (maybe something more current, now). Dr. Clary won't recommend it. He will tell you to read about it and tell him if you are interested since it has to be installed during the liver surgery.

Oh, and I didn't mention the two additional times I went back into the hospital for a week each time due to infections from the surgery. The anti-fungal and antibiotics were pretty rough and probably a low among lows in dealing with these little cancer devils.

When I had infections or on the anti-fungal, antibiotics I didn't have any appetite and forcing myself to eat was one of the hardest things in the world to do. A word of caution about taking appetite enhancing drugs.... I took one hormonal/steroid drug to increase my appetite when my only problem was a fever related to the infection. That stuff gave me a ravenous appetite which was good, but I couldn't sleep without a sleeping pill for 5 months after taking that high powered stuff!

I know another lady who is 4 years out after having the same surgery and arterial injection pump and she didn't have the initial complications that I did. She said the surgery was not that bad....

I found it interesting that my brother in law who is a urologist recommended his friend to cut out the 10" of my colon, which he did OK. This guy also did minor liver surgery, but after reviewing my liver scans, he said that the liver was inoperable. I said "Surely, there are some surgeon cowboys out there who would try to cut on my liver." He said "The cancer is too near "structure" (arteries, etc) and you would bleed to death on the operating table."

Well, I went to Duke and spoke with a fairly young Dr. Clary who said "This cancer is in a bad place, but I can cut it out" I felt like I had won the lottery. He said that 7 years ago, no surgeon would have attempted what he was doing. Apparently, some surgeon gets bold enough to try it and then if the patient survives it becomes standard operating procedure. Bottom, line. I had the surgery and I didn't bleed to death on the operating table.

So there's my liver surgery story... the good, the bad and the ugly.

I think you are wise to question timing of the surgery and to not be a sheep and blindly do whatever the Docs recommend.

I firmly believe if I had done this, I wouldn't be here right now.

Most of these guys don't like me very much, because I'm an Engineer and I question everything.... and if they are perturbed by any of my questions I ask even more.

Good luck and let me know how things go.

Tony

carmen07 said:

Hi Maria
My husband had 60% of his liver removed 06/04. He had the surgery on Tuesday and was home by Sunday.
The surgery went very well. He didn't need a blood transfusion also. His biggest complication was sleeping in bed the first few days. Lying flat was uncomfortable. He slept in a recliner chair the first few days home. The surgeon told him to try to do a little excercise every day before surgery.
He told him that people who are in shape usually have a better recovery.
His liver still remains NED. I wish you the best and don't blame you for being afraid. I hope that this helps.

Moesimo said:

I haven't had liver surgery, but I want to respond as a nurse and a patient who had surgery about the same time last year. I don't think the timing has anything to do with your care during the holidays. Healthcare workers are so used to working W/E and holidays. It just becomes another day.

But as a patient who last year made the decision to have life altering surgery (colostomy.) Once the decision was made by me, my onc. wanted me to have the surgery between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wanted to wait until after the holidays because I did not want to be in the hospital for Christmas. I chose the second week in Jan. because my BD is in the first week. I chose Friday because the hosp. where I had the surgery is about 1 hour away from where I live. It was easier for my family to visit on the w/e. It was a good choice because of course I had a post op ileus and ended up back in the hospital times 2 and it was 3 weeks before I was home for good. I would have missed Christmas.

Good luck with whatever you decide. Keep us posted.

Moe