stage 1V's please respond

oneagleswings

Well my hubby had his second folfiri plus avastin treatment..during which time the Onc finally shared the results of his CAt scan that he had before the trial (he thought the referring Dr had spoken to him- but it turns out he hadn't had a full CAT- just an abdominal one previously)- but anyway it showed a met in the lung as well as multiple lesions in the liver (but he said the liver ones looked vague on the Cat)...
The Onc said he is not overly concerned with the lung met- just the liver ones since they will show symptoms first....so...my big question to you all is:...do any of you have symptoms(?) of the metastatic cancer..and if so what are they?????...
Thanks so much for your help.
Bev

PhillieG

Hi Bev,
I did FOLFOX for 6 months in the beginning of all my cancer (Feb 04) I had liver mets and possible lung mets. I had no symptoms at all and I was at stage IV colon cancer. They did treat the liver ones first, then operated Sept 04 to remove 60% of liver and a small piece of my colon, I did more chemo with a hepatic pump installed and my liver has been ok since then. In April/May 05, the possible mets in my lungs turned out to be mets and I have been on Erbitux and CPT 11 for the past 21 weeks and I am progressing well. So, prior to my DX, I had no symptoms. How it was caught was by routine blood work which picked up high LFTs (Liver Functions)
Hope this is of some help.
-phil

goldfinch

Bev,
I don't have liver mets, only lung mets, but have never had any symptoms from the mets, just the &@^#( treatments.
Mary

glimmerofhope

Even with metastatic colon cancer in my lungs and liver, the only symptom that I have EVER developed is an annoying "tickle" cough this past Spring. My current treatment (Avastin, 5FU, and TM) have beat this back. At least for now, I don't have the tickle cough.

I had really bad jaundice and high bilirubin several times but that was from complications of chemo.

Keep in mind that it is easy to interpret every little quirk as a symptom.... I was convinced at one time that this stuff had spread to my bones, but apparently it hasn't.

I have probably had 18-20 CAT scans and many "spots" show up on these scans that are not cancer. They are only 40% accurate, but the Docs love them....When in doubt, order a CAT scan. The worst that can happen is the hospital makes about $12,000 to help pay for these expensive machines. PET scans are supposed to be about 90% accurate in identifying cancer, (and this has held true for me, personally) but I think most insurance will only pay for one a year (that's all I want anyway, since I don't think these things are good for you either.)

I had an oncologist (Harvard or Yale grad... I can't remember which), that reviewed one of my CAT scans and told me that I had a 9 centimeter wide cancer back in my liver about 15 months ago... I was floored, but then started to think about what he said and QUESTION his assessment. I said: "You told me just a couple of months ago, nothing showed up on my liver CAT scan and now you're saying I have a lesion that is almost 4 inches wide! How can colon cancer grow that fast?" It was like a lightbulb came on in his head when I said that and he even agreed that that was not possible. (He was just in too big of a hurry and hadn't thoroughly reviewed my previous scans.) Others later interpretted this as an abcess, not cancer. This was at Duke Hospital, the best that I have visited.

I also had a different Doc at Duke tell me my lung mets had grown significantly in 3 months during chemo and then after I almost passed out, he realized that he was comparing my most recent CAT scan to one from a year earlier, not 2-3 months earlier (much relief!)

bsrules

Bev,
Hello! When my husband Bob was diagnosised with stage 1v the only symptoms he had was that his stomach was bothering him and that he was tired. They took blood work and something showed but not much. He was in late stage 4 when we found out. I don't know if this helps. Keep fighting!!!!

Prayers and Hugs and Rainbows coming your way!!

Sue

optimist

I have been battling stage IV cancer since May 04 with no symptoms. However, two weeks ago, I had pain in my right shoulder and when I breathed deeply in my right chest.I had a chest CAT scan which showed 3mm nodules in my lung which may or may not be a new met. (They say it's too small to be significant.) My CEA rose from 11 to 49 at that time. Now, the pain has disappeared. I want to take an abdominal CAT scan soon to see if this was a symptom of liver tumor growth. My liver function tests have all been normal during this time. I'm not sure if this pain was actually a symptom, but I'm sure I'll find out. The only other symptoms I have had in this time is fatigue. I was also having night sweats for about two or three weeks about the time my new liver mets had developed. I wonder if others have had similar symptoms.

foxy

optimist said:

I have been battling stage IV cancer since May 04 with no symptoms. However, two weeks ago, I had pain in my right shoulder and when I breathed deeply in my right chest.I had a chest CAT scan which showed 3mm nodules in my lung which may or may not be a new met. (They say it's too small to be significant.) My CEA rose from 11 to 49 at that time. Now, the pain has disappeared. I want to take an abdominal CAT scan soon to see if this was a symptom of liver tumor growth. My liver function tests have all been normal during this time. I'm not sure if this pain was actually a symptom, but I'm sure I'll find out. The only other symptoms I have had in this time is fatigue. I was also having night sweats for about two or three weeks about the time my new liver mets had developed. I wonder if others have had similar symptoms.

Hi, I have had night sweats since my ca diagnosis in 1993. Went through the menopause due to chemo then, but still have the night sweats after 12 years! Who knows why? I certainly don't. Virginia.