Stage 4 Liver w/spinal mets

tc_sis

Hi,I have been searching these and other boards over the past few months.I have found so much helpful info, however it seems rare to find someone who has similar exp. with spinal involvement. My brother was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer with spinal mets in September 2010. At that time he was given the grim prognosis of 6 months to live. He was sent home with Hospice care at that time,and had 10 palliative radiation treatments to his spine, as a comfort measure only, the result was wonderful and he had no side effects.He wasn't going out like that. We explored every available avenue,he was then taken off of hospice care on 1/15/2011 in order to be able to take Nexavar.He was able to take the first 21 days of Nexavar with no side effects. During that time he began having more problems with a second area in his spine (he has multiple tumors in both Lumbar and Thoracic spine).He was given additional radiation at that time.The radiation was much more involved and came with nausea,fatigue,and extreme weight loss.

From that point til today he has had so many new symptoms... He was rushed to the hospital with a heart rate of 190... a blood clot was discovered in his lung. he was treated with large amounts of blood thinner and sent home with injections to self administer, after the second home injection he began to vomit blood. He was hospitalized and found to have bleeding varices. That changed everything...no treatment for the blood clot now...he was banded to stop the bleeding and recieved 2 pints of blood. He has now developed edema in his legs and ascites. They were unable to band all of the varices and said that he was still seeping blood. Now we are back at home...no chance of continuing the Nexavar because of it's blood thinning risk. Back at square 1 with a new Hospice refferal. He is having a hard time with the fact that there is nothing more to be done for him.

I am wondering if anyone has any similar experience with the spinal mets from primary liver.It seems to be more rare than say mets to lungs. Good thoughts for all of you as you battle this. He says he will go down swinging, and that is exactly what he is doing!