The Wait and See Approach for "things" in Liver Scan

BillO60

Today I finally started on my 3rd stage of treatment, the mop-up chemo.  They have me on IV Oxaliplatin, once every 3 weeks for 8 cycles. I've also started Capecitabine today which I take twice a day for 2 weeks, take a 1 week break and then start the cycle over. 

For the past 6 months the focus has been on the colorectal cancer.  I completed an initial round of Capecitabine and Radiation therapy and was then handed off to the surgery team. The surgery went okay although it was about 8 hours long with half of that time removing the tumor and the other half fixing 3 hernias, aligning things in my abdomen to make sure my ileostomy wouldn't get kinked, and then putting mesh in my abdoment to hold things in place. Except for 3 instances of adhesions and blockages which extended my stay to 31 day, recovery wasn't that bad.

However, now that that's over, the other item that I've known about for months were some "things" that showed up on CT and PET scans of my liver. There was a 1 cm lesion and some other artifacts that were described by the rediologist as being inconclusive but "probably" METs. 

I hadn't seen the oncology doctor since March so I was very curious to know what the game plan was related to the Liver. 

In summary, his recommened approach is, based on the post surgery abdominal CT scans that showed absolutely no change to the "things" in my Liver, that I'll go through the 6 months of mop-up chemo, they'll do follow-up scans of the Liver and if there is still no change (doesn't shrink and it doesn't grow), then they'd monitor the Liver when I'm scheduled for routine follow-up scans of the abdoment.

My takeaway from my conversation with him is that he believes the scans are showing minute cysts or something else that's not cancer related, although he can't say that definitively in case he's wrong.  He also does not want to do a biopsy unless there's growth.

Once I was diagnosed with cancer I just wanted the tumor gone by any means necessary.  I guess I'm still a bit in that mode but I'm in unfamiliar territory about how something that's vague and undefined (and tiny) might normally be treated, if at all.  If it is cancer then the desired outcome is that this 6 month cycle of chemo would wipe it out.  When I raised the question of doing a biopsy he said that would occur if the scans show growth.

I know that "wait and see" does play into some areas of cancer treatment and I certainly don't want to go through any unnecessary procedures. But I also don't know if this is unusual.   Anyone have any similar experience?

Thanks,

Bill

NewHere

Wait And See For Me Also

My various scans show things in liver, lungs and kidneys.  All are catagorized as "too small too tell" and going to be monitored via scans to see if any changes.   They could be cysts and blips (I had some on various tests in the past pre-cancer, such as on x-rays when I had pneumonia or scans for other things, but there seems to be more.  Could just be tests were more precise this time.)

They have not changed in size or ability to ascertain what they are from scans in January to scans in June (1/2 through chemo at that point.)   I have next scan coming up in a couple of weeks.  The onccologist said he would consider removing my port if it is clear.  But the game of wait and see seems to be just part of the trip we are on.   

Trubrit

Me too

I also had a 'probably a cyst' on my liver, from the beginning. It did not shrink with chemo, it did not grow....until after the chemo, and then it took on a life of its own and was actually a tumour after all. 

I do not regret the wait and see period as I don't think it did any real harm. 

I had the tumour ablated and now we're back to the check-ups (got one coming up). 

Its a 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' kind of thing. 

I'm sorry you had such a rough ride after your surgery. 31 days in hospital sounds like Hell to me. 

Here's to the best results and an easier ride through your next trip with chemo. 

Sue - Trubrit

 

BillO60

NewHere said:

Wait And See For Me Also

My various scans show things in liver, lungs and kidneys.  All are catagorized as "too small too tell" and going to be monitored via scans to see if any changes.   They could be cysts and blips (I had some on various tests in the past pre-cancer, such as on x-rays when I had pneumonia or scans for other things, but there seems to be more.  Could just be tests were more precise this time.)

They have not changed in size or ability to ascertain what they are from scans in January to scans in June (1/2 through chemo at that point.)   I have next scan coming up in a couple of weeks.  The onccologist said he would consider removing my port if it is clear.  But the game of wait and see seems to be just part of the trip we are on.   

Here's Hoping all Scans are Clear

I guess I'm going to have to learn to be a bit more patient.  As agressive as the teams have been in treating the primary tumor it just felt strange to have the oncologist kind of take a laid back approach.

Thanks for sharing and I hope your upcoming scans are clear.

Bill

BillO60

Trubrit said:

Me too

I also had a 'probably a cyst' on my liver, from the beginning. It did not shrink with chemo, it did not grow....until after the chemo, and then it took on a life of its own and was actually a tumour after all. 

I do not regret the wait and see period as I don't think it did any real harm. 

I had the tumour ablated and now we're back to the check-ups (got one coming up). 

Its a 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' kind of thing. 

I'm sorry you had such a rough ride after your surgery. 31 days in hospital sounds like Hell to me. 

Here's to the best results and an easier ride through your next trip with chemo. 

Sue - Trubrit

 

Learning to be patient

Hi Sue,

Like many other things in life, I guess the lesson here is to be patient.  The situation you've been through is exactly what I have been imagining in my head but with a less postitive outcome. I'm glad yours was caught early and did no harm. That is the outcome I'm hoping for.  Just have to be patient.... 

Yeah, 31 days in a V.A. Hospital is no picnic. After almost 40 years of not having any medical problems that required me to be admitted I think this one admission more than made up for it. 

Good luck on your upcoming checkup.

Bill