Good Scan results

menright
menright Member Posts: 256 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I just received my offical MRI scan results. The liver was clear! No indications whatsoever. I had originally had 2-3 suspect spots and 2 of them were biopsied and were indeed cancerous. These have now disappeared after chemo.

My oncologist has now recommended 2 months more of chemo. (5FU Avastin, Lucevorin) I do not want this but the doctor experts are recommending this as a security to assure the elimination of any cancer cells. I guess I will abide by their recommendation.

The quandary I am in is regard to Liver resection surgery. I have been told that this is the "gold standard" of care. As I understand it this would give me the best opportunity for a doctor's proclamation of a cure. However, with my great MRI scan results, the doctors state there is no need for further surgery. Part of me wants to go ahead with surgery. I want to be done with all treatments.

Anyway, I would love to hear comments on the liver resection surgery option. Did anyone have the surgery even though they had a clear scan? Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Mike

PS I remind myself that I should celebrate the fact that no bad news came of the scan.
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Comments

  • just4Brooks
    just4Brooks Member Posts: 980 Member
    #2
    GOOD NEWS!!
    I'm so happy to hear the good news about your MRI. I would get a 2nd opinion on the surgery or not and wait to see what they say.

    Brooks
  • Fb489
    Fb489 Member Posts: 69
    #3
    congrats
    This is excellent news, you must be on cloud nine.
    My hubby has rectal cancer that has mets to his liver.
    He just started his chemo treatment.
    How long were you in treatment for before they did the MRI?
    Did you make any diet changes in addition to the chemo?
  • sfmarie
    sfmarie Member Posts: 602
    #4
    Fantastic
    I would speak to a liver surgeon for a second opinion. You never know.

    Now go celebrate! Marie
  • clgregory
    clgregory Member Posts: 5
    #5
    This is Great News!!
    I had 2 tumors on my liver- 1) the BIG one on the right side and 2) the small one on the left side. After 4 months of chemo I had surgery to remove them. The right side tumor had shrunk 40% and was removed but the left side tumor was gone. The chemo had "killed" it!! I then did 2 more months of chemo and all was good! Then 15 months later they found a tumor on the left side of my liver- was never told that it was the same one but had that feeling that it was the same one. After more chemo I had surgery to remove that one- it's been 14 months since my last surgery. Just had my every three month ct scan and they have moved me to every six months! All clear! Personally, I wish they had gone ahead and removed that part of my liver the first time around.

    Cindy
  • angelsbaby
    angelsbaby Member Posts: 1,165 Member
    #6
    clgregory said:

    This is Great News!!
    I had 2 tumors on my liver- 1) the BIG one on the right side and 2) the small one on the left side. After 4 months of chemo I had surgery to remove them. The right side tumor had shrunk 40% and was removed but the left side tumor was gone. The chemo had "killed" it!! I then did 2 more months of chemo and all was good! Then 15 months later they found a tumor on the left side of my liver- was never told that it was the same one but had that feeling that it was the same one. After more chemo I had surgery to remove that one- it's been 14 months since my last surgery. Just had my every three month ct scan and they have moved me to every six months! All clear! Personally, I wish they had gone ahead and removed that part of my liver the first time around.

    Cindy

    Mike
    I don't know about the liver but i say that scan results are awsome I just wish one time angel had a good scan But the news is great and i am happy for you. the chemo is working and thats all we really want it to do is get rid of the cancer. good job

    michelle
  • dianetavegia
    dianetavegia Member Posts: 1,942 Member
    #7
    That is soooo wonderful Mike!
    Congrats! Go for the GOLD standard.
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #8
    sortof, yes
    Hi Mike,

    So glad to hear the news of your good and clear scan!
    Re. the liver resection... when I had my liver resection, nothing showed up on the PET, but 3 spots still showed up on the CT only. My oncologist said that meant they were dead tissue and that I didn't need to do anything. My surgeon disagreed and it was upon his persistence with me that I ended up having the liver resection done (in May '08). My understanding of your situation, though, is that nothing is showing up at all, which is great! I guess having the resection where your spots previously were is probably what you're considering. Honestly, I'd probably proceed forward with it if I were you, even with nothing showing up on your scans now. As you already know, there could still possibly be cancerous cells at the microscopic level, or clumps of cells just too small to be picked up on a scan.
    When they do the resection, the surgeon can get in there with a handheld ultrasound, which can sometimes pick up things missed by a scan. That happened to me- the surgeon thought we were removing an area of the liver that had three spots. As it turned out, after using the handheld ultrasound on my liver, he discovered three additional tumors that had never shown up on any test- CT, PET, or MRI. So I had six spots removed and biopsied- all six were positive for cancer, even though the PET scan showed no activity. I have had a recurrence in the liver with one spot, but I had had multiple tumors in ALL parts of my liver & when I had the resection, they just removed 50% of my liver. To get out the areas formerly affected by tumors being there, I would have had to get my entire liver removed which, of course, isn't possible- they don't do liver transplants on cancer patients (though I guess sometimes they can do things with regenerated liver tissue grown in a petrie dish- don't know if they ever do that w/ cancer patients though). If you have parts of your liver that were never affected with tumors and they do the resection on the part of the liver that did have tumors, I'd think you'd have very good prospects of avoiding any recurrence in the future that way.

    Best wishes and, again, congrats on the great scan!

    Lisa
  • maglets
    maglets Member Posts: 2,576 Member
    #9
    lisa42 said:

    sortof, yes
    Hi Mike,

    So glad to hear the news of your good and clear scan!
    Re. the liver resection... when I had my liver resection, nothing showed up on the PET, but 3 spots still showed up on the CT only. My oncologist said that meant they were dead tissue and that I didn't need to do anything. My surgeon disagreed and it was upon his persistence with me that I ended up having the liver resection done (in May '08). My understanding of your situation, though, is that nothing is showing up at all, which is great! I guess having the resection where your spots previously were is probably what you're considering. Honestly, I'd probably proceed forward with it if I were you, even with nothing showing up on your scans now. As you already know, there could still possibly be cancerous cells at the microscopic level, or clumps of cells just too small to be picked up on a scan.
    When they do the resection, the surgeon can get in there with a handheld ultrasound, which can sometimes pick up things missed by a scan. That happened to me- the surgeon thought we were removing an area of the liver that had three spots. As it turned out, after using the handheld ultrasound on my liver, he discovered three additional tumors that had never shown up on any test- CT, PET, or MRI. So I had six spots removed and biopsied- all six were positive for cancer, even though the PET scan showed no activity. I have had a recurrence in the liver with one spot, but I had had multiple tumors in ALL parts of my liver & when I had the resection, they just removed 50% of my liver. To get out the areas formerly affected by tumors being there, I would have had to get my entire liver removed which, of course, isn't possible- they don't do liver transplants on cancer patients (though I guess sometimes they can do things with regenerated liver tissue grown in a petrie dish- don't know if they ever do that w/ cancer patients though). If you have parts of your liver that were never affected with tumors and they do the resection on the part of the liver that did have tumors, I'd think you'd have very good prospects of avoiding any recurrence in the future that way.

    Best wishes and, again, congrats on the great scan!

    Lisa

    enjoy
    Mike just enjoy....enjoy enjoy...you'll get used to the idea and make a decision...

    congrats and hugs,

    Mags
  • Kathleen808
    Kathleen808 Member Posts: 2,342 Member
    #10
    Mike
    Mike,

    Great, wonderful, awesome news!!! Dance with Ned and have some fun!

    Aloha,
    Kathleen
  • donnare
    donnare Member Posts: 266
    #11
    Congrats!
    Great news Mike, so happy for you. Can't offer anything about the resection, but enjoy the good news about the scan.

    Donna
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #12
    donnare said:

    Congrats!
    Great news Mike, so happy for you. Can't offer anything about the resection, but enjoy the good news about the scan.

    Donna

    Wooohooo Mike!!
    Big celebrations for you and your scans! I wish I was a candidate for liver resection, but not yet, maybe one day for me...but good luck in your journey about it, and hope things still stay clear for you!

    Hugsss!
    ~Donna
  • Kathryn_in_MN
    Kathryn_in_MN Member Posts: 1,252 Member
    #13
    Great news!
    Wonderful news on the scan! It is so good to hear when chemo works so well. Go celebrate!

    I'd definitely get a second opinion on the liver resection, from a liver surgeon.
  • butterfly23
    butterfly23 Member Posts: 256
    #14
    Kathryn_in_MN said:

    Great news!
    Wonderful news on the scan! It is so good to hear when chemo works so well. Go celebrate!

    I'd definitely get a second opinion on the liver resection, from a liver surgeon.

    Hi
    Hi Mike!

    Thanks for sharing your good news! I don't have exjperience with the liver. But I did want to wish you well!

    KARYN
  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #15
    butterfly23 said:

    Hi
    Hi Mike!

    Thanks for sharing your good news! I don't have exjperience with the liver. But I did want to wish you well!

    KARYN

    you bet....
    My liver surgeon did not want to do the liver resection because he could not see the mets any longer, my ONC told him, you will do it! And guess what, when they cut the liver they found the spot in the liver, and decided to take 10% more, just to get a clearer margin. I would have the surgery. The liver surgeon had explained to me that he was a surgeon and he needed to see what he was after; so, he did an ultrasound and found a spot that the scan didn't, so he went after it, had he not done that he may not have wanted to do the surgery, but I'm sure my ONC would have demanded it.

    Congrats!
  • Fight for my love
    Fight for my love Member Posts: 1,522 Member
    #16
    Congratulations!I love good
    Congratulations!I love good news.
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #17
    Fight for my love said:

    Congratulations!I love good
    Congratulations!I love good news.

    Aw Mike Im tickled to death with the great news.....
    Thats great buddy, its been a long time for you and you and wife deserve a break . Take a deep breath and savor the moment as I know you and your wife has. Take a respit for a bit to enjoy a little freedom then finish your business, whatever you decide. again, great news to hear buddy, Im happy for ya !!!!......Clift
  • TLG320
    TLG320 Member Posts: 167
    #18
    Fantastic!
    Such wonderful news, Mike! Enjoy it! As I'm new to this myself, I have no other advice to offer than what others have already said - get a second opinion.
  • pluckey
    pluckey Member Posts: 484 Member
    #19
    lisa42 said:

    sortof, yes
    Hi Mike,

    So glad to hear the news of your good and clear scan!
    Re. the liver resection... when I had my liver resection, nothing showed up on the PET, but 3 spots still showed up on the CT only. My oncologist said that meant they were dead tissue and that I didn't need to do anything. My surgeon disagreed and it was upon his persistence with me that I ended up having the liver resection done (in May '08). My understanding of your situation, though, is that nothing is showing up at all, which is great! I guess having the resection where your spots previously were is probably what you're considering. Honestly, I'd probably proceed forward with it if I were you, even with nothing showing up on your scans now. As you already know, there could still possibly be cancerous cells at the microscopic level, or clumps of cells just too small to be picked up on a scan.
    When they do the resection, the surgeon can get in there with a handheld ultrasound, which can sometimes pick up things missed by a scan. That happened to me- the surgeon thought we were removing an area of the liver that had three spots. As it turned out, after using the handheld ultrasound on my liver, he discovered three additional tumors that had never shown up on any test- CT, PET, or MRI. So I had six spots removed and biopsied- all six were positive for cancer, even though the PET scan showed no activity. I have had a recurrence in the liver with one spot, but I had had multiple tumors in ALL parts of my liver & when I had the resection, they just removed 50% of my liver. To get out the areas formerly affected by tumors being there, I would have had to get my entire liver removed which, of course, isn't possible- they don't do liver transplants on cancer patients (though I guess sometimes they can do things with regenerated liver tissue grown in a petrie dish- don't know if they ever do that w/ cancer patients though). If you have parts of your liver that were never affected with tumors and they do the resection on the part of the liver that did have tumors, I'd think you'd have very good prospects of avoiding any recurrence in the future that way.

    Best wishes and, again, congrats on the great scan!

    Lisa

    Lisa, your case is similar to mine
    I have mets on all lobes of liver. Just had my PET and CAT scans last week and the Cancer team is meeting to discuss my case today. I've responded very well to chemo, got 50% shrinkage on the larger tumors. What other treatments (ablation, RFA) did you get in addition to liver resection?

    Peggy
  • pluckey
    pluckey Member Posts: 484 Member
    #20
    Yippee Yahoo!!!
    Congrats Mike. I can see your dilemma. It's like Breast Cancer patients- they tend to remove oth breasts even if cancer found just in one.

    I will be watching your posts as I am at crossroads now in my care...

    Best of Luck in reaching your decisions and embracing your NED status!!!

    Peggy
  • nudgie
    nudgie Member Posts: 1,478 Member
    #21
    CONGRATS
    on now dancing with NED. The only partner that does not discriminate :)

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