2nd round

belindahill
belindahill Member Posts: 144
in Peritoneal Cancer #1
Hi again, just keeping you posted, my husband was very poorly after his first round of chemo, has lost a lot of weigh very down and generally unwell. He has his next chemo thurs 11th.
I still feel in the dark about whats happening, the ongologist said that the lymph nodes secondary mets in peritoneal ( from cc in cecum ) is not curable but hoping to control, any information will be appreciated. I think treatments in England seem to be different. Hope all's well with everyone.

Comments

  • AussieMaddie
    AussieMaddie Member Posts: 345 Member
    #2
    We all seem to agree
    Hi Belinda,

    it seems most of us on this board believe, or have been told, that peritoneal cancer is not curable but it can be managed. It seems to me that chemo (carbo/taxol) either coming after or followed by surgery or other types of chemo are the usual paths taken with this cancer. I don't have exerience so far of any other type of treatment but of course others here do have. I'm just about to have my last round of carbo/taxol after which the oncologist will just watch and wait to see what happens. I'm really sorry that your husband has had such a hard time with the chemo. I don't know that anyone can be sure what will happen next, not when it has spread as your husband's has done. It's a matter of treating the different sites of cancer I imagine. Possibly surgery might become an option for him. Are you able to ask his oncologist what he forsees happening. Another type of person to speak to is a palliative care nurse. They're good at helping with questions like that. But I'll leave it up to others here to give you a different slant on things. My experience has in some ways been very atypical, and the only symptom I've ever been found to have is the cancerous fluid in my abdomen (and at one point also in one lung) so I'm not the best one to answer, but I hope what I've said helps in some way.

    Take good care,

    My very best wishes,

    AussieMaddie
  • westie66
    westie66 Member Posts: 642
    #3
    AussieMaddie said:

    We all seem to agree
    Hi Belinda,

    it seems most of us on this board believe, or have been told, that peritoneal cancer is not curable but it can be managed. It seems to me that chemo (carbo/taxol) either coming after or followed by surgery or other types of chemo are the usual paths taken with this cancer. I don't have exerience so far of any other type of treatment but of course others here do have. I'm just about to have my last round of carbo/taxol after which the oncologist will just watch and wait to see what happens. I'm really sorry that your husband has had such a hard time with the chemo. I don't know that anyone can be sure what will happen next, not when it has spread as your husband's has done. It's a matter of treating the different sites of cancer I imagine. Possibly surgery might become an option for him. Are you able to ask his oncologist what he forsees happening. Another type of person to speak to is a palliative care nurse. They're good at helping with questions like that. But I'll leave it up to others here to give you a different slant on things. My experience has in some ways been very atypical, and the only symptom I've ever been found to have is the cancerous fluid in my abdomen (and at one point also in one lung) so I'm not the best one to answer, but I hope what I've said helps in some way.

    Take good care,

    My very best wishes,

    AussieMaddie

    Chemo treatment depends on type of peritoneal cancer
    ...as far as I know. The carbo/taxol chemo combination appears to be for women with ovarian cancer or women with primary peritoneum cancer because their peritoneum tissue is like ovarian. If the cancer originated from another source, like mine (gallbladder), or colon, or appendix, then the chemo treatment that is done is what is done for those types of gastro-intestinal cancers. I started with cisplatin/gemcitibine for 12 rounds which is the normal gallbladder cancer treatment, but that didn't work so am now on the colon cancer treatment (I don't have colon cancer) of oxaliplatin/irenotecan/leucovin/5FU pump. I've had 6 rounds of it. The side effects depends on each individual - I had very very few with the cisplatin/gemcitibine but am having lots with the FOLFOXFIRI (present) treatment. Chemotherapy can be very nasty indeed but the oncologist can reduce the amounts of some c hemicals, the infusion rates, give lots of medications, etc. to alleviate some of the side effects. I'm not sure this helps! AussieMaddie is right - talk to the oncologist, the oncology nurse, the dietician - they are there to help. Make them help. They are usually very busy people and so respond until asked.
    Cheryl
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    #4
    Find a specialist in peritoneal mets
    Tho I didn't have lymph node involvement, my peritoneum was seeded with colo-rectal tumors (appendix in origin). All visual tumor was removed, and I had intraperitoneal chemo with FUDR (a 5FU derivative) followed by Folfox+Avastin.

    You need to get to one of the experts. I know there are some in GB. I believe Basingstoke (sp?) has experts.

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