CHEMO STARTED AFTER COLON AND LIVER RESECTION

atlanticcanada

I Am new here. my daughter 31 was diagnosed July with colon cancer and 1 small liver met.she had colon resection 5 weeks ago and will have liver resection in 3 weeks , chemo will not start for 4-6 weeks after that. has anyone had that much time go by before chemo ? . she is very strong jogs 2 miles a day and sees a naturopath doctor in toronto.changed diet radically.mostly raw food and juicing along with IV vitamin c mistletoe shots turmeric etc.Just wondered if anyone else had a similar situation.

westie66

Chemo Start
Hi: I had to wait 4 months after surgery before chemo could start. I think they want to wait until the incisions have healed completely.
Cheryl

luvinlife2

Hi there
I didn't start my chemo for 6 weeks after my surgery but I had a post op infection that needed to heal. However, chemo hinders healing so it only makes sense that she heals first prior to any chemo. Too bad they couldn't do her liver resection at the same time they did the colon.

Wishing her all the best

herdizziness

Yes it is normal
After surgery there is a 4 to 6 week waiting period to give your body the opportunity to heal, so it's perfectly natural that they are talking about starting chemo in that time period. It is stopped 4 weeks or more before surgery as well.
I'm glad she was able to get the surgeries first, a lot of times, they have to shrink the tumors with chemo before surgeries, so that a good sign.
Sending my best wishes her way on her future surgery and chemotherapy.
Winter Marie

sdp

Chemo after surgery
My last chemo was on 4 th June 2012 , after that I had a colon resection on 9th July and subsequently a liver resection on 2 nd august.

Still not started the adjuvant chemo. Had taken 10 cycles of FOLFOX and erbitux prior to the resection.

So for me it will be more than 4 months off chemo.

Is that ok? Or is it too late and should I have started chemo earlier. I am still recovering from the liver resection where I had mets in both lobes
And also had an RFA done to two small mets which were not resected.

I intend to start chemo sometime in mid october. Any advice or suggestions welcome

Sdp

annalexandria

As others have said,
sounds about right. They like to have things healed up a bit before hitting the patient's system with chemo. I started chemo about 6 weeks after surgery. Sounds like your daughter is very strong, and her youth will help her to get through this part of the journey. Tell her we're hoping she does great in treatment, and gets back on the road to better health soon! Ann Alexandria

herdizziness

sdp said:

Chemo after surgery
My last chemo was on 4 th June 2012 , after that I had a colon resection on 9th July and subsequently a liver resection on 2 nd august.

Still not started the adjuvant chemo. Had taken 10 cycles of FOLFOX and erbitux prior to the resection.

So for me it will be more than 4 months off chemo.

Is that ok? Or is it too late and should I have started chemo earlier. I am still recovering from the liver resection where I had mets in both lobes
And also had an RFA done to two small mets which were not resected.

I intend to start chemo sometime in mid october. Any advice or suggestions welcome

Sdp

Some people
Don't even do "mop-up" chemo after surgery, so I wouldn't worry about your time after surgery.
Your body has to heal first, so I truly wouldn't worry over it, no cell is going to grow into a big tumor in that small amount of time.
So, my advice, relax, let your body heal, then worry about starting the chemo.
Winter Marie

Momof2plusteentwins

Chemo
I started chemo 4 weeks after surgery. My recovery was going well with no problems. I had my port put in and went straight to onc office and started chemo. I was anxious to get started and told them I wanted to start right away.
Sandy

Fucc

I had a similar situation. I
I had a similar situation. I am 36 years old and was diagnosed in April of this year, I had a colon resection in May and did not have my liver resction until August, which is quite a bit longer than your daughter. I started chemo a week ago. To be honest, I was worried about the delay. I pushed as much as possible to have my liver surgery moved up, which hey did by 10 days because of a cancellation. Ultimately, I was assured that a few weeks here or there wouldn't make a difference. I guess I will never know otherwise. I am also located in Toronto. The hospital I am being treated at is very busy making scheduling things quickly difficult and frustrating. I am also seeing a natriopathic doctor and will be starting mistletoe and vitimin c iv, along with various other supplements.

atlanticcanada

Fucc said:

I had a similar situation. I
I had a similar situation. I am 36 years old and was diagnosed in April of this year, I had a colon resection in May and did not have my liver resction until August, which is quite a bit longer than your daughter. I started chemo a week ago. To be honest, I was worried about the delay. I pushed as much as possible to have my liver surgery moved up, which hey did by 10 days because of a cancellation. Ultimately, I was assured that a few weeks here or there wouldn't make a difference. I guess I will never know otherwise. I am also located in Toronto. The hospital I am being treated at is very busy making scheduling things quickly difficult and frustrating. I am also seeing a natriopathic doctor and will be starting mistletoe and vitimin c iv, along with various other supplements.

What was the liver resection
What was the liver resection like ? is it alot worse than colon resection. She has been doing iv vitamin c for a couple of months now . Will you doing it through chemotherapy, alot of controversy about that but i do agree with the naturopathic doctor.

herdizziness

atlanticcanada said:

What was the liver resection
What was the liver resection like ? is it alot worse than colon resection. She has been doing iv vitamin c for a couple of months now . Will you doing it through chemotherapy, alot of controversy about that but i do agree with the naturopathic doctor.

Liver resection
I wish I could tell you which it was like, but I had colon/liver/ureter resection all done on the same day at Stanford. It took me two weeks before I was doing housework and walking around with assist of a cane, was back in school the 4th week doing fine. I think it also depends on which side the liver is resected from. My surgeon told me that this time will be a longer recovery then the last time because it is on the right side of the liver. So the side does matter as to recovery time. I'll be finding out here in a couple of weeks about that.
Winter Marie

Fucc

atlanticcanada said:

What was the liver resection
What was the liver resection like ? is it alot worse than colon resection. She has been doing iv vitamin c for a couple of months now . Will you doing it through chemotherapy, alot of controversy about that but i do agree with the naturopathic doctor.

Liver resction
Overall the liver resction went well. I had sections six and seven removed. To be honest, the worst part was the first few nights in the mini icy where it was so noisy that it was hard to get some sleep. The first few weeks after the surgery I was really tired. I was up and about the day after the surgery and able to walk around the neighborhood within a few weeks. In some ways it was easier to recover from the liver resection than the colon because the bowels weren't involved. I am now two months out and feel pretty good.

My natriopath has recommended use of supplements, mistletoe and iv vitimin c during chemo. I am still doing my own research and will decide if I am going to proceed as she recommends. My oncologist has taken a neutral stance where he has given me the standard 'there is no proof that any of these things work because there hasn't been full on clinical studies', but has also said that it is my choice. I think it is interesting that there are some current clinical trials in the us and the uk using iv vitimin c with folfox and curcumin with folfox. It indicates that there may be something there. What has your natriopath recommended?

marbleotis

I started chemo 4 weeks
I started chemo 4 weeks after surgery. Your body needs some time to heal.