Things didn't work out as planned ... and a big question

Hi all,

First off - I hope you are all well, and enjoying life to the fullest.

I don't post often but check in on everyone from time to time. I last posted in July some good news about my husband Brian. It always helps me to read good news - gives me hope and I wanted to pay it forward. It looked like he was going to have a shot at NED. In Feb they took him to surgery and removed the tumors (through ablation and cutting) on the left lobe of his liver. Following that, they did a portal vein embolization to prepare him for complete removal of the right lobe in September. Everyone - us, docs, nurses, etc. - was very excited about the possible outcome of this.

Unfortunately, when they took him to surgery in Sept. they had to abort the procedure because when they opened him up they found tumors back on the left lobe. Without the left side being clean and cancer free, they cannot take the right side. The plan was to get a PET scan, put him back on chemo, and possibly try again in another 6 months.

Yesterday we were given the results of the PET scan and it looks like the tumors are back full force on the left lobe. He has tumors throughout his liver, not just on the right where we were expecting them. Basically, without the chemo the tumors grow and they are dispersed throughout his liver.

Of course he is very disappointed, and I am struggling to convince him that this is not "the beginning of the end". He is a strong guy, a fighter, with a great sense of humor. He has worked fulltime for the last two years throughout weekly chemo, recovered quickly from surgeries and hardly ever complained about a thing. He's a family guy who was determined not to let cancer ruin another day with his family. But he is very concerned about one thing, and that leads to my question - does anyone have any idea how much more jeopardy he might be in because of the portal vein embolization? It is not a reversible procedure. His docs don't seem to think it is a big deal, even though they said they would be watching his liver closely (currently liver function is normal). But Brian is really concerned about the fact that one side of his liver has been essentially dying from lack of blood supply, and that he won't have enough to deal with the chemo, etc. He has chemo weekly - Folfiri and erbitux, and had a really excellent response last time he was on it - enough of a response to make him a candidate for surgery when we were previously told it was completely inoperable. It is the second regimen, he was on Folfox first and that stopped working. We were told yesterday that if this regimen stops working, there are only clinical trials left for him. He also has to give himself daily shots of Lovenox for blood clots around his port (3 - 1 in juglar, 1 in chest, 1 under his arm).

In addition, anyone have an ideas about what I/we could be doing to actively support liver function in terms of nutrition, nutrients, etc. He was juicing and stopped, but will be starting again.

Like I said, I love to read good news - it helps me so much. I'm sorry and really hate to post anything remotely negative. Just really need some info. Thanks for your help.

Donna