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pain and bloating

xman
xman CSN Member Posts: 6
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
i just came back to China to visit my brother. To fill you in he has stage IV colon cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis. The biggest mass being in the mesentery 3.6 inch by 3.2 inch, another big one in the transverse colon about 2.5 by 2.4 inch. He went through 2 chemos already. I have started him on immunopower (the multivitamin pills prepared by Patrick Quillin, the author of "beating cancer with nutrition"), and diet rich in vegetable and fruit, low in sugar and fat.

So far we don't know how the treatment worked, the main concern being that he has been having really severe pain and bloating in the lower abdomenan region. Basically his stomach feel hungry yet his lower stomach is bloated. I talked to one of the doctors he said this is essentially due to the size of the tumor in the small intestine which suppresses the bowel from outside, narrowing it and will eventually lead to obstruction. Anyone has similar experience with any recommendation?

Another thing is that they seem to have no easy way to measure the progress of the treatment. The sizes of the tumors were identified during his operation, which didn't do anything for him due to extensive metastasis. Now the docs told me there is no way to tell if the tumor shrinks through CT or untrasound. So for those who observed tumor shrinkage, how did you achieve that? What kind of equipment or procedure did you use?

When i was talking to Patrick Quillin he also mentioned "Hyperthermia" for debulking the tumor. I looked into it. There is a couple of hospitals having such equipment but they all are in a different city. The charge for the procedure is pretty steep so I would like to hear your input. Is that same as heat chemo treatment?

Thanks a million and wish you all the best!!!
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Comments

  • BusterBrown
    BusterBrown CSN Member Posts: 221 Member
    #2
    Xman:
    I'm not at all familiar with the hypothermia treatments. I just want to say that you are a very good brother and you are to be commended! Keep up the good work and post if you have questions...
    Buster
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  • finner
    finner CSN Member Posts: 230 Member
    #3
    Hello xman
    Sorry your brother and you are going through so much. i have liver mets and after chemo,it had shrunk. This was determined by a ct scan, which to my knowledge, is the usual way to determine growth or shrinkage. Hope this is of some help.

    Best wishes
    Margo
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  • taraHK
    taraHK CSN Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #4
    I don't understand why they cannot 'measure progress' using CT or ultrasound. Maybe they didn't have pretx measures and they feel difficulty to compare CT against intraoperative measures? But I should think it would be better than nothing -- surely they could get at least a gross measure of development....My tumors were sized on PET but also CT.

    I am so sorry to hear about his pain and bloating. I understand about the possibility of obstruction. I understand it is possible to put in a stent (is this the right word?) which expands once inserted and can hold the bowel open to allow passage. But it's a surgical procedure -- don't know if they'd be willing to undertake with your brother at this stage.

    How is he tolerating the chemo? OK so far?

    Thinking of you and wishing you all the best
    Tara
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