New Chemo/No longer stable/pressure on "tubes" in liver?????

midnte0708

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in some time but still read often here's my story:

My dad was diagnosed over 3 years ago in July 2005 with many BIG mets to liver and given 1 year to live.
Obviously the doctor was wrong ... he started FOLFIRI + Avastin 3 years ago and has been on that continuously since July 2005. Some shrinkage in liver tumors but still unresectable. All his scan for the last few years were ..."no change"..."no change"..."no change"...etc...

Now this most recent scan shows "nodules" in the lungs, (my dad didn't ask how many) and the doctor said there is a tumor or something pressing on the "tubes" in the liver. My father takes the doctors word, never asks many questions and just does what he says, no second opinions or anything (it drives me crazy!!) but he trusts and feels comfortable with him so I don't push it too much, especially since he has outlived his prognosis and maybe this doc does know what he is doing.
My fathers overall health besides the cancer is good, he works full time and maintains fairly normal lifestyle.

The doctor says he wants to get him "stable" again so he is making a switch to the FOLFOX .."Oxyilplatin" (sp?)

Now my questions:

Are there any of you that have responded well to FOLFOX (Oxyilplatin) after FOLFIRI (Campostar) stopped working?????

Should I push him to ask about some of the cutting edge treatments that I read about (does medicare even pay??)

What in the world is the doctor talking about pressure on the livers tubes????

Shouldn't he get or ask for a PET scan??? Has never had or been offered one (he went from a HMO to Medicare + supplemental ins recently since he turned 65) ???? I assume the HMO wouldn't have wanted to pay for such a test for a man given a year to live but now that he is on Medicare would it be easier to get one?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. We are still kind of in shock since he has been doing so well for so long.

Thanks,
Sue