Colon to Liver

Galliano
Galliano Member Posts: 46
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My husband's colon cancer nightmare began almost 2 years ago. He had colon resection, no chemo follow-up (unfortunately). 15 months later, he started chemo since by then his CEA had risen dramatically and PET was showing small mass in liver. Chemo for 10 months, then stopped as his CEA began rising more. Now besides PET, CT's and Ultrasound are showing increase in mass in liver. The scariest part is that it is right up by the Portal Vein. We'll see surgeon next week. Has anyone had similiar experience with liver metastasis close to Portal Vein, and if so, what was your treatment? Would you have done anything differently? All advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you and best of luck and health to you all!

Comments

  • kickerrn
    kickerrn Member Posts: 22 Member
    #2
    Hi
    I had a recurrence of my colon cancer in the liver. The tumor was near the portal vein, so RFA was not an option but I did have a liver resection in Jan 2004. They took the left half of my liver. I have recovered well from that surgery and did one round of chemo. I am taking a break from the chemo so that I can have a node in my lung removed. So just remember that there are options even if the tumor is near the major blood vessels. My surgeon told me he had to peel the tumor off of some of the major blood vessels. I found the recovery from the surgery was not that bad either. Take care.
    Barb
  • shmurciakova
    shmurciakova Member Posts: 906 Member
    #3
    Hello, My name is Susan. I too was diagnosed approx. 2 years ago. I had one met to the liver about one year ago that was in a pretty tricky spot too. I know it was close to some vein (maybe portal?) At any rate, I went down to MD Anderson to Dr. Stephen Curley. He is one of the top surgeons dealing w/ colon cancer liver resections specifically. I would ask your surgeon the tuff questions. How many of these operations has he performed? Does he feel comfortable operating on this tumor, etc. etc......I would not go to a general surgeon for this and I would go to one of the major cancer centers if you are not already! The liver is a difficult organ to operate on (a very bloody organ). The surgery is going to be harder to recover from than the colon resection because they have to cut through muscle to get to the liver. I felt like I had been attacked by a shark for a couple months and I still have alot of numbness and scar tissue, but he will be fine. My liver resection was followed by treatment w/ Camptosar & Xeloda (oral 5-FU). I finished this treatment in August. I hope that helped. Feel free to write me an e-mail if you have any questions! Take care and good luck, Susan

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