Alien Abduction

Dear Doc
So very glad to hear the "all clear" on the scope.

If we can't get a cure for cancer, you would think they could at least come up with a prep which gives us a buzz and tastes good too!

Praying for good news on your other test as well.

Hugs,

Marie who loves kitties

Awesome
That is great news. Enjoy that drink or if you aren't tired of jello you could make some jello shots - just give us the address so we can help you finish them off

Kim

Margaritaville.. here we come
Clear and Clean is Great News..

Doc-Hawk
appy your results are so positive. Gatorade as the mix made it(the prep) torerabe, but not good. LOL

steveandnat said:

great news
Why cant they use our ports to get down all that prep stuff! Pray only continued great news for you. Jeff

Great news!
So happy for you.

Like the tequila idea

Wishing you wellness and happy this test is oyou for you.
Get some rest and do something for you!

Great
to hear that news. And I like the idea of "Preperita" instead of the usual stuff. Or perhabs "Prep Ti Ponch" (does anybody know the fabulous rum from the French Antilles? Much better than the normal rum).

Anyway. Hope you celebrated the news in proper form

Hugs from Cologne
Petra

Doc_Hawk said:

Thud!
I'm not sure yet, but it seems like the other shoe may have dropped. The results of the OnDose test came in and I'm at 25 with a range of 20 - 30. That means there won't be an increase in my 5-FU dosage because I'm getting the right amount.

I'v asked teh nurse to check with the onc to see what my options are at this point. With the colonoscopy yesterday showing clear and my last PET scan had the tumor in my liver "virtually" gone, I'm hoping that a liver transplant will help resolve things. My older sister offered to be my donor so it's just a matter of what the doc has to say now. If a transplant is in order, what sort of down time can I expect?

Thanks for all the the good thoughts and well wishes yesterday, I was just too tired to reply (had only got 3 hours sleep the night before.) And Phil ... "Uranus"? Baaaad one my friend! LOL

Congrats on the clean scope
Congrats on the clean scope I've never heard of OnDose test. Would you now qualify for a liver node removal??

Doc_Hawk said:

Liver
That's what I'm hoping for. I left a message for my onc to call me so that we can discuss options including transplant, cyberknife, HIPAC and pretty much anything else that's available. Frankly, after the phone conversation I just had, I'm really hoping for the transplant.

What OnDose does is measure the amount of 5-FU in your system. They draw the blood while you're getting treatment and if it's reading low then the dosage can be increased. Unfortunately, mine was right in the middle of the range.

Hi Doc
I'm not remembering where you have cancerous spots. Is it just the liver (could a liver resection be done? ).
I guess I'm not aware of something that has you wanting a transplant (can a living person donate a part of their liver?....that would be new to me).
Anyway....that's a relief that your colonoscopy was clear....fabulous. I still haven't had one....i guess cause still doing chemo. Hope future treatments can be very helpful. Hang in there.

Liver transplant
I had not really heard of liver transplant as an option for colorectal cancer as my understanding was that the immunosuppression they have to give you to stop you rejecting the transplanted liver would lead to proliferation of your cancer elsewhere as the immune system wouldn't be controlling it. However, have had a look at some literature and they are still doing it in some areas and have developed new immunosuppressants (the M-TOR inhibitor rapamycin) that is 'antiproliferative' so helps control the cancer growing.

There is a trial ongoing in Oslo that is still recruiting and has some positive results Link at http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01311453

It does seem Norway is one of the few places doing this as a 2011 article I found quoted their study as one of the only published studies on this approach (there are some older ones but their outcome are very poor because ithey were done before the development of the new immunosuppressants). The study says:

A group from Norway,
taking advantage of the surplus of donor organs in that
country, initiated a study where 16 patients underwent liver
transplantation for isolated hepatic metastatic colorectal
disease[82]. Although 2-year survival was 94% with an excellent
quality of life, there was a high recurrence rate of
63%. These preliminary data seem promising although,
it is too early to tell whether this will prove to be a beneficial
strategy. Specifically, it is important to evaluate the
5-year survival in order to see whether it is comparable to
other indications for liver transplantation, thereby so as to
justifying the use of a limited organ supply. In addition,
selection criteria for the candidates need to be refined to
be able to decrease the high recurrence rate.


The issue may be whether you lung tumour would grow back (most of the people in the study are ones with liver only mets) and in truth it does sound like there are still chemo options your doc wants explored. Make sure you get good clear info from him on why you aren't a candidate for liver resection surgery as you seem uncertain on this but a conversation on liver transplant seems worthwhile and do report back as I'm not sure anyone else on this board has realy discussed it and there may be others interested.

steve