pre-op treatment response...

littlejulie

Hi there,
I heard many times about success from pre-op chemo & radiation treatment. When is it discovered how well someone's response was to treatment? Today is my moms last day of 5 weeks pre op chemo/rad. YIPPEE!!!

The surgery has been booked for July 8th.
When will we find out about her response to treatment?

julie

beep

Julie,
Glad to hear your mom is doing so well! What happened with my dad is they constantly monitered his blood, they could tell from the blood if anything didn't look right, then they would do more tests. So I imagine that is what they will do mostly, is bloodwork, quite often. He was so secretive about everything, so I'm not sure if they did more than the blood, and they did a follow up colonoscopy a year later, which turned out fine. Good luck with your mom, and prayers to her, you and your family.

Lee Ann

Chrisswife

Your mom should have a follow up PET or CAT scan prior to surgery to gauge her progress and to give the surgeon an idea of what to expect July 8.
However, they won't truly know how she has responded to treatement until the pathology comes back after surgery.
Chris had some suspicious nodes on his presurgery PET scans but the path report showed nothing but dead cells once they were removed. We will never know if they were positive for cancer or not, it's a moot point now.
Congratulations to your mom on completing chemo/rad! She is lucky to have such a concerned and caring daughter - best wishes to you both.

taraHK

Hi Julie, Heart congratulations to your mom -- and to you!! -- on the completion of the preop treatment. That must be a great feeling. I had another CT scan after my pre-op chemoradiation and before the surgery. I wonder if this is what they will schedule for her. Best wishes to you both.
Tara