Colon cancer stage 4

jengen12
jengen12 Member Posts: 18
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi my name is Jennifer... My mom was diagnosed on June 10th 2010 with colorectal cancer that has spread to her liver and lungs. She has a quarter size tumor on one lung and pin points on another. Her liver has two small tumors the biggest is also quarter size. her cancer in her colon did not obstruct so she has a stent in right now. My mom's first CEA was only 18 now it has gone down since last cea which was over a month ago was 15. Her last CAT scan showed all her tumors going through necrosis but no shrinkage. My mom has been taking vitman D, it works!!! I can't get her to rest even for a nap after chemo. She has more energy then me now.She is on a sugarless diet, it seems to be working. Stage 4 cancer can be cured...My older sister is a bio/chemist who works with cancer cells and associates her self with columbia, cambridge etc.... Cancer can be cured if the right treatment is done. She told me cancer is never thing that kills the paitent, mostly its infections from surgery and other stuff is that true?? Is there other people with stage 4 colon cancer who are either cured or living long? The first doctor said my mom would not be here for christmas : ( but it seems that the doctor was uneducated so thats why its always better to get a second or even fifth opinion.

Comments

  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #2
    welcome
    Hi Jennifer,

    Welcome to the board. Sorry your mom has a stage IV diagnosis, but it sounds like she's doing pretty well with it. I don't know the answers to all the questions, but I'm hanging on 3+ years after my stage IV diagnosis. Mine is in my lungs (pinpoints up to 1 cm all over both lungs) and in my liver too. I am still hoping for a cure, but for now, it's called "living with cancer". It is being kept at bay and really hasn't gotten worse lately. I have another scan in a couple more weeks, so I pray that it's still the same (smaller or gone would be nice, of course!)
    I've heard so many stories of people who were told by their doctors that they wouldn't last much longer, only for those people to long outlive the prediction of how long they'd have left. Good for your mom!
    Staying upbeat for her is very important.
    Keep coming here for questions, answers, or just support. Encourage your mom to sign up here too.

    Hugs,
    Lisa
  • John23
    John23 Member Posts: 2,122 Member
    #3
    Jen -

    Re:
    "She is on a sugarless diet"

    Tell her to be very careful. Her body needs glucose to survive,
    and attempting to starve cancer cells will only starve her normal
    cells first. The cancer cells steal glucose away from good cells,
    and will continue to do that, regardless if you're taking more
    in or not. It is why late stage cancer victims have little energy,
    and get skinny. It's simply not a good thing to do!

    Re:
    "She told me cancer is never thing that kills the patient, mostly
    its infections from surgery and other stuff is that true??"

    If she leaves out the word "never", she is closer to correct.

    Cancer victims die of cancer when the cancer cells displace the
    space needed for normal cells, and organs fail to function for lack
    of space taken by cancer tumors. But she is correct, in that the
    treatments often leave the patient too weak, and the immune system
    malfunctioning, to be able to fight off the simplest of diseases.

    Unfortunately, those that die of treatment complications, aren't
    recorded to have died of the cancer they were fighting. They are
    recorded as having died of "heart failure", "lung collapse",
    "infectious disease", or any number of other factors due to
    the complications of the intense treatments.

    Your mom should locate another gastrointestinal specialist, and
    another colorectal surgeon for second opinions. The physicians
    should not be of the same group or organization. It is important
    for her to do so as soon as possible, so other treatment plans
    can be explored.

    "Stage 4" isn't the end of the world, many here are stage four and living
    their lives as normally as possible. I had been staged as a "3c or 4"
    four years ago, and told that I had a prognosis of 3 to 5 years if I
    did chemo, and -0- time if I did not do chemo. I am still here,
    clean scans, etc..... and I did not do chemo.

    Is cancer "curable"? Anyone that tells you it is, is not telling you
    what the entire industry has documented. To date, there is
    no known cure for cancer.

    That does not mean that a cancer victim can not live as long as
    otherwise.... People die every day of other than cancer....
    It doesn't mean that they didn't have cancer.

    Get mom some second and third opinions ASAP.

    My best wishes for you both.

    John
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #4
    Hi Jen
    "Cancer can be cured if the right treatment is done. She told me cancer is never thing that kills the paitent, mostly its infections from surgery and other stuff is that true??"
    I believe cancer can be cured. It does depend on the treatment and the individual. Along with a good team of doctors as been my experience. I am stage IV, living with colon cancer for over 6 3/4 years. I'm not sure if cancer itself kills or if it causes organs to fail. I really have not heard of people dying from infections from surgery but that's me.

    "Is there other people with stage 4 colon cancer who are either cured or living long? The first doctor said my mom would not be here for christmas : ( but it seems that the doctor was uneducated so thats why its always better to get a second or even fifth opinion."
    In a word...YES. I was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in Feb 04 and have been in treatment since then. It's varied as to what I've taken but I have been able to work throughout all of this (with time off for surgeries and recovery) and my quality of life has gone from not great to pretty f-ing great. That is basically where I am now. I have just one or two small nodes in my lungs that have been being treated by RFA (radio frequency ablation) where they insert a needle into the tumor and heat it up which in turn dissolves the tumor. I am also on Erbitux, a drug that has been able to shrink the tumors and I've had a lot of success with it.

    Can cancer be cured? I think this is hard to say. It seems that one can have their cancer eliminated but I believe that you are at a constant risk of having it reappear, possibly in another form of cancer. I think this may also depend on the stage. It seems that people with stage I or II have a greater chance of total recovery. I have no scientific proof of this, it's just my observation. I know that I will always be looking over my shoulder when/if I get to the point where there are no tumors or signs of cancer.

    I'm glad that your Mom's first doctor isn't in the picture for Christmas. I am a firm believer in the "where you're treated first makes all the difference". It doesn't hurt to get a second opinion either, I know getting that saved my life.

    Best of luck to your Mom Jen
    -phil
  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #5
    PhillieG said:

    Hi Jen
    "Cancer can be cured if the right treatment is done. She told me cancer is never thing that kills the paitent, mostly its infections from surgery and other stuff is that true??"
    I believe cancer can be cured. It does depend on the treatment and the individual. Along with a good team of doctors as been my experience. I am stage IV, living with colon cancer for over 6 3/4 years. I'm not sure if cancer itself kills or if it causes organs to fail. I really have not heard of people dying from infections from surgery but that's me.

    "Is there other people with stage 4 colon cancer who are either cured or living long? The first doctor said my mom would not be here for christmas : ( but it seems that the doctor was uneducated so thats why its always better to get a second or even fifth opinion."
    In a word...YES. I was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in Feb 04 and have been in treatment since then. It's varied as to what I've taken but I have been able to work throughout all of this (with time off for surgeries and recovery) and my quality of life has gone from not great to pretty f-ing great. That is basically where I am now. I have just one or two small nodes in my lungs that have been being treated by RFA (radio frequency ablation) where they insert a needle into the tumor and heat it up which in turn dissolves the tumor. I am also on Erbitux, a drug that has been able to shrink the tumors and I've had a lot of success with it.

    Can cancer be cured? I think this is hard to say. It seems that one can have their cancer eliminated but I believe that you are at a constant risk of having it reappear, possibly in another form of cancer. I think this may also depend on the stage. It seems that people with stage I or II have a greater chance of total recovery. I have no scientific proof of this, it's just my observation. I know that I will always be looking over my shoulder when/if I get to the point where there are no tumors or signs of cancer.

    I'm glad that your Mom's first doctor isn't in the picture for Christmas. I am a firm believer in the "where you're treated first makes all the difference". It doesn't hurt to get a second opinion either, I know getting that saved my life.

    Best of luck to your Mom Jen
    -phil

    Hugs!
    Welcome and so sorry! Hang in there, this will be a long journey, but try and stay positive!
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #6
    Nana b said:

    Hugs!
    Welcome and so sorry! Hang in there, this will be a long journey, but try and stay positive!

    Welcome to the board!
    It's going to be helpful to you during your mom,s fight!
    Hugs!
  • eileencas
    eileencas Member Posts: 3
    #7
    pepebcn said:

    Welcome to the board!
    It's going to be helpful to you during your mom,s fight!
    Hugs!

    There is hope
    My father was dx stage IV Jan 2010. He had a 5 inch tumor in his colon, 3 tumors in his liver (1 was 3 inches, the other 2 were each an inch) and a 1 inch tumor in his lung. His drs said they could not cure him. At that time they removed the colon tumor because of possible blockage and his CEA was 8. Since then he has been on 5fu and Avastin and his tumors have shrunk about 50%. His CEA is currently .8. His oncologists said that he was still not a surgical candidate. We got him a second opinion at Sloan Kettering and another opinion at Univ of Penn. Both drs are recommending a liver resection and VATS procedure to the lungs. He is scheduled for sx in 4 weeks. Last week we found a new oncologist who said that he can't make any promises, but that he has several patients with the same dx as my Dad that are now 5 years cancer free. What I learned from this board is that 9-12 months after chemo is a critical time to look into sx, let the surgeon tell you whether your Mom is a surgical candidate, go to the big city hospitals and get the right drs with a positive outlook. All drs are not the same. It also helped to read the books, There's no place like hope and On the far side of the curve. I have my father treating with the drs mentioned in the book On the far side of the curve. Good luck to you and your Mom.

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