Oncologist says No chemo

Glv49

Hi,

My husband had laprascopic liver resection two weeks ago, he is doing good. They removed the spot that was about 1 cent. The surgeon said it was colon cancer, but was removed with clean margins.. and thats a good thing. We saw the oncologist today, and she said she will see him once a month, and every 3 mos. he will have a PET/CT. He has one scheduled for July. We asked about chemo, and she said since the FOLFOX 6 didn't work for him he developed the liver met while on it. She would not do that protocol again, because of the side effects like neuropothy would be great. She said there is no maintenance chemo. She said she wants to save Avastin for him, in case it would return. She said the surgery could be very curative for him. So, I guess I am glad in a way, but still scared that without follow up chemo it will return, but I guess 3 mos he will get checked. I guess you only can hope it never comes back, but if it does you will still have some options. The surgeon said the liver was left in its original form so it could be resected again later if needed. My yearly PET/CT will be coming up in May, it is such an anxious time. Now when my hubby has his scan, he will have it early in the morning, see the surgeon in the afternoon with the results the same day.. no waiting so thats good.. waiting as we all know is the worst part.

Thanks,
Gail

kimby

Adjunct Chemo
Gail,

There are not good studies on 'mop up' chemo after liver resection. The debate seems to be 50-50 depending on the onc experiences and since there is not documented evidence, no chemo sounds good! With such close follow up, you'll be on top of it. I'm so happy to hear that the resection went well.

Hugs,

Kimby

dixchi

kimby said:

Adjunct Chemo
Gail,

There are not good studies on 'mop up' chemo after liver resection. The debate seems to be 50-50 depending on the onc experiences and since there is not documented evidence, no chemo sounds good! With such close follow up, you'll be on top of it. I'm so happy to hear that the resection went well.

Hugs,

Kimby

Chemo or no
Your husband's cancer area was so small that it probably is good to have
regular check ups for a while and postpone any chemo. By the time my
area was discovered it was very large and then four treatments with
FOLFOX were supposed to shrink it but instead "liquified" it; for
some reason it spread out instead of shrinking????? After surgery
I got 8 Folfox treatments.....who knows which worked or if both worked
surgery and/or chemo.....but I am NED right now. Sounds like your
oncologist knows what she is doing.

Barbara

Glv49

kimby said:

Adjunct Chemo
Gail,

There are not good studies on 'mop up' chemo after liver resection. The debate seems to be 50-50 depending on the onc experiences and since there is not documented evidence, no chemo sounds good! With such close follow up, you'll be on top of it. I'm so happy to hear that the resection went well.

Hugs,

Kimby

Thanks Kimby,
I know I did a
Thanks Kimby,

I know I did a little research and found that out also. Yes, his resection was robot assisted, and he did really well.. he has 7 small incisions, and they are healing nicely.
Alot easier than colon surgery thats for sure! I was glad they were able to do it laproscopic, that saves you alot of healing time for sure.

Be Well,
Gail

Glv49

dixchi said:

Chemo or no
Your husband's cancer area was so small that it probably is good to have
regular check ups for a while and postpone any chemo. By the time my
area was discovered it was very large and then four treatments with
FOLFOX were supposed to shrink it but instead "liquified" it; for
some reason it spread out instead of shrinking????? After surgery
I got 8 Folfox treatments.....who knows which worked or if both worked
surgery and/or chemo.....but I am NED right now. Sounds like your
oncologist knows what she is doing.

Barbara

Congrats! On the NED.. that
Congrats! On the NED.. that is just wonderful

Gail

tootsie1

Good news
That's wonderful that you won't have any waiting for results! I hope everyhing goes swimmingly.

*hugs*
Gail

impactzone

same result for me
After my 1st lung met resection in 11/07 the onc said the same thing for me. If it helps that is waht they recommended at Stanford with NED. I did have a second met show up and was removed 3/30/09 and I will meet with the onc on 4/30 to discuss the next steps but they seem very reluctant to give chemo to Stage 4 people who are currently showing NED. It seems like if you are stage 3 they give you chemo but for the 4 er's they want to hold it back until something shows up. Congrats on successful surgery
Chip

PhillieG

Sounds sound
Glad they got it all, I agree with the Onc, it's good to have an ace up one's sleeve in case it's needed. The Avastin could be just that.
-p

2bhealed

No chemo yea!
Hi Gail,

You could do CHEMIA instead which is "the juice of the plant" by ingesting fresh, organic veggie juices. That's what I did for my Stage 3 colon cancer and have remained cancer free for 7 1/2 years with absolutely no chemo!

Beets are great liver cleansers too.

Just a thought.

peace, emily

VickiCO

2bhealed said:

No chemo yea!
Hi Gail,

You could do CHEMIA instead which is "the juice of the plant" by ingesting fresh, organic veggie juices. That's what I did for my Stage 3 colon cancer and have remained cancer free for 7 1/2 years with absolutely no chemo!

Beets are great liver cleansers too.

Just a thought.

peace, emily

Emily
Beets...

I did not know they were liver cleansers. I love beets and have been actually craving them lately. In the past (before cancer) my snacks were the usual M&Ms, chips, etc. Now, I snack on beets, apples, and the like. I have been concerned about the narcotics I am on, particularly Vicodin, messing up my liver. Maybe I have offset some of the damage with all the beets I am eating!One can hope.

Thanks for this info...it is encouraging to me! Vicki

2bhealed

VickiCO said:

Emily
Beets...

I did not know they were liver cleansers. I love beets and have been actually craving them lately. In the past (before cancer) my snacks were the usual M&Ms, chips, etc. Now, I snack on beets, apples, and the like. I have been concerned about the narcotics I am on, particularly Vicodin, messing up my liver. Maybe I have offset some of the damage with all the beets I am eating!One can hope.

Thanks for this info...it is encouraging to me! Vicki

Liver Cleanses
Hi Vicki,

There are liver cleanses you can do. A clean liver is so important since everything goes through there. That's funny that you crave them. I did too after my surgery--ate them steamed all the time with some flax oil drizzled on them. YUM! And of course I put them in my juice sometimes.

Enjoy!

peace, emily