Bile duct cancer

northa914 said:

Keep your chin up
You truly have been blessed and are very fortunate that your cancer was caught at an earlier stage where resection was an option. From the sounds of it, you’re in a better position than most when it comes to this horrible disease so try to keep your eye on that ball. Your cancer team isn’t taking any chances that you don’t have rogue cells still trying to hold a flash mob somewhere else in your body, because all it takes is one to cause a problem. I’m so pleased to hear that you’re in remission and that your fight has been successful! And it sounds like you have an amazing support system in your family and cancer team!

I have stage IV cholangiocarcinoma with mets to my bones and lesions in my pancreas (the pancreatic lesions have been deemed of no concern at this point). I have multiple lesions in my liver, two of which are quite large (9cm and 5cm). After one year and two months of Gemzar/cisplatin therapy and three TACE procedures, the two largest lesions are shrinking and the others are stable in number and size. My bone mets are stable in number and size also, and no new mets have appeared. Just today I started on Xeloda with the goal of shrinking my largest liver lesions further to the point where my cancer team can either resect them or use radiofrequency ablation to burn them. I’ve been fortunate that the therapies have given me minimal side effects, mostly fatigue and the dreaded chemo-brain. But I haven’t let the cancer get me down. I live my life as if I don’t have cancer and treat my body like it does. I’m a single mother with two young boys who need me to beat this, and I have every intention of doing so. By the statistics I shouldn’t be here, heck, one doctor said that I wouldn’t make it through last summer (I was diagnosed in June 2010). And I, too, have an awesome support team in my family, doctors, and friends (one of whom I met through this site, she knows who she is!!! ). While I probably will never be in remission, I have every intention of keeping this disease at bay and watching my children – and someday my grandchildren – grow up. You being beaten down after seven months of fighting the cancer monster is totally understandable. You’ve not only been beaten physically by the cancer, surgery, and chemo; you’ve been beaten emotionally, and perhaps spiritually too, just trying to grasp the fact that you have cancer and picking yourself up on a daily basis and running with it. It’s gotten easier for me as time passes as I’ve realized that every day I wake up and can hold my boys and kiss them goodnight, love them and be annoyed with them, teach them something new, and just watch them grow is truly a blessing. I have one item on my bucket list, and that is to provide a normal life for my boys and be here for them through all of the milestones in their lives.

You ARE a SURVIVOR, and an example to us that we can beat this as I sincerely believe you have!!!

Andrea

P. S. I forgot to mention that I was 48 when diagnosed with no risk factors (ie hepatitis, cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis)

northa914 said:

And you stay strong as well!
If you ever need to reach out, please feel free to email me at andreanorth@loopmastersinc.com. If you're like me, you don't like to express your fears and frustrations to your family or friends as you feel it's better for all parties concerned (you included) if you - as my good friend puts it - "Fake an Eight". The power of the mind is truly a big help, and it did get easier for me. But it’s not always easy to keep your chin up, so on the days you feel down, it may help to "talk" to someone (that would be me or...?) who knows what you're going through and how difficult it is sometimes to keep pressing on. Perhaps another route to take to keep you in a more positive zone is to get a second opinion regarding your progress. I had a second opinion that my insurance covered at the City of Hope after I was first diagnosed and a third opinion just last Friday the 14th at CTCA (Cancer Treatment Centers of America) with one of their naturopathic oncologists and one of their medical oncologists. The third opinion wasn’t covered, and was for nutrition and supplement recommendations, and to see if the path my doctors are on is on target. I requested to change my primary oncologist (it’s a long story, but I’m SO happy I did!), and I wanted to make sure he had done right by me for the year and two months I was under his care (we’ve found he could have done better). It sounds like you’re getting excellent care, but it doesn’t hurt to get another opinion from another reputable entity. Always be proactive and ask tons of questions as cancer can be pretty sneaky. I look at my life as a perpetual game of Whack-A-Mole, where the vermin pops up from random holes, and in order to win you need to hit their heads with a mallet to get them to retreat. You are in a much better position than I am in regards to your cancer, and I have faith that you’ll be a long-term survivor!

Oh, and regarding statistics. They include people of all ages who've received various treatments at various stages from various doctors, and you're an individual who is different from them. And from a mathematical standpoint, 4 survivors out of 1,000 is still 0% assuming the figures use the standard method of rounding. Count yourself as one of the four!

Andrea

northa914 said:

And you stay strong as well!
If you ever need to reach out, please feel free to email me at andreanorth@loopmastersinc.com. If you're like me, you don't like to express your fears and frustrations to your family or friends as you feel it's better for all parties concerned (you included) if you - as my good friend puts it - "Fake an Eight". The power of the mind is truly a big help, and it did get easier for me. But it’s not always easy to keep your chin up, so on the days you feel down, it may help to "talk" to someone (that would be me or...?) who knows what you're going through and how difficult it is sometimes to keep pressing on. Perhaps another route to take to keep you in a more positive zone is to get a second opinion regarding your progress. I had a second opinion that my insurance covered at the City of Hope after I was first diagnosed and a third opinion just last Friday the 14th at CTCA (Cancer Treatment Centers of America) with one of their naturopathic oncologists and one of their medical oncologists. The third opinion wasn’t covered, and was for nutrition and supplement recommendations, and to see if the path my doctors are on is on target. I requested to change my primary oncologist (it’s a long story, but I’m SO happy I did!), and I wanted to make sure he had done right by me for the year and two months I was under his care (we’ve found he could have done better). It sounds like you’re getting excellent care, but it doesn’t hurt to get another opinion from another reputable entity. Always be proactive and ask tons of questions as cancer can be pretty sneaky. I look at my life as a perpetual game of Whack-A-Mole, where the vermin pops up from random holes, and in order to win you need to hit their heads with a mallet to get them to retreat. You are in a much better position than I am in regards to your cancer, and I have faith that you’ll be a long-term survivor!

Oh, and regarding statistics. They include people of all ages who've received various treatments at various stages from various doctors, and you're an individual who is different from them. And from a mathematical standpoint, 4 survivors out of 1,000 is still 0% assuming the figures use the standard method of rounding. Count yourself as one of the four!

Andrea