Our quest: to find some amazing surgeon somewhere in the world that can operate on metastatic colon

Lovekitties said:

Welcome

I wish I had an absolute answer for you.

I would suggest that you get together copies of all medical procedures, scans, treatments and have them ready to send out for additional opinions before getting on a plane.

I have heard many good things about Sloan-Kettering in New York City.

Wishing you best results in your quest, and your wife's health.

Marie who loves kitties

I'm sorry your wife is having problems with the chemo. You're so wonderful to come to the board to ask questions. I am with a HMO in California ... Kaiser Permanente. I'm a poster child for them but I don't think they take patients outside of their group. I did get a second opinion from the Mayo clinic. i agree to get all of your tests scans etc together. Some places may be willing to look at the test results before you get on a plane. 

Good luck. I've added you and your family to me endless prayer chain.

Yolanda

And can you give us a bit more info if possible...where are her tumors, how many, etc.

As far as surgeons go, here in Seattle there are many reputable cancer centers, like Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which has numerous experienced cancer surgeons to choose from.  The east coast also has quite a few, like Sloan Kettering and Mayo.  Dr. Kemeny at Sloan is supposed to be incredibly gifted.  Many people at the Colon Club forum have seen her.  MD Andersen in TX also has a good reputation.

What I would do is choose one, gather up your wife's records (esp most recent scans), and contact the facility you choose to let them know you want to get a 2nd opinion.  This is something that happens a lot, and they will have procedures in place so it shouldn't be too complicated for you.

You're smart to seek out more options when it comes to surgery...chemo can be very effective at reducing the size of tumors, but it's really not a cure for us crc folk.  When it's effective, it can lead to surgery, which is our best bet.  I personally have had four recurrences and five surgeries, chemo didn't work for me but surgery saved my life.

Hoping for the best for you and your wife~AA

I highly reccomend Vassiliki L Tsikitis.  Besides being a great surgeon,she was the most caring Dr. I have ever met.  As my Dr. she was at the Univ. Az. Cancer Center.  She has since left them.  I believe she is in Washington State. Perhaps you can locate her through Google.  Good Luck!!!  She is in Portland Oregon.  Try the Univ. there, or Major hospital.

From the advice from Dr. Lenz at USC, i used Dr. Andrew Lowey st UCSD for my surgery.  He thought I woud be a surgery and HIPEC, but I did not get the HIPEC.  It was not going to be helpful for me.   He removed 8 tumors and 20 mets in my peritoneam.  He also removed two tumors, one on each side of my pelvis.  He is an agressive surgeon, and that is what I needed.  I have used Dr. Zaccker at Shea Medical Cancer Center, he is also a great surgeon, and agreesive at tumor removal. All three surgeries I was walking more then a mile 36 hours after surgery.

I used the top surgeon at Banner Phoenix, he opened me up, took a look, and closed me up with out doing a thing!  His bedside manner was to tell me I need to get my personal affairs in order because I did not have long!   I could barely walk 200 meters five days later when they released me.

That is the difference between a great surgeon and a mediocre one!

Best Always,  mike

My surgery experience was very good with Dr. Aloia at MDAnderson Houston TX.  He removed 2 liver mets.

Herman Cain (presidential candidate in US in 2012) also went there for metastatic CC to liver and wrote about it in detail in his book "This is Hermain Cain". 

His surgeon was Dr. Abdullah and his oncologist there was Dr. Eng.  His surgery was 2006.