Good News, not so good news
Well i had my first CT scan last week to make sure that all the meds are working for me. the good news is that he could see a good amount of shrinkage in my colon from the main mass! so that is good news! they also couldnt find the spots in my lungs so they have disappeared as well! The not so good news is that there are masses in my Liver that are growing, so i will have to have another biopsy next week to see what it is. I was first told that the masses in my liver was benign but the PET scan lit up like a christmas tree. so know they want to go in and take another sample to see if it gives the same result or something different. I was told that it could be fatty tissue, or dead cells, so i am not sure if i should be worried or not. At this point i am kind of starting to worry about it because i am not sure why it is growing if infact they are benign. I am also wondering if it could be a different cancer. I ask my Onc about it and he said that was really rare and unlikely. But hey i like giving the Dr. a challenge 
Oh Yeah, i just wanted to share that my first year of marriage is coming up on the 7th. They say the first year is the toughest but we have managed to survive it and we are also surviving this cancer at the same time! so i am hoping that this new year we will have something more to celebrate than the year before:)
Zach
Comments
-
Great news on the colon and
Great news on the colon and lung tumors!!! A little strange that the liver tumors are growing, as these are usually the easiest to treat with IV chemo. Maybe the can do direct chemo into the liver through the hepatic vein or artery, or maybe even RFA on the liver tumors. Sounds like a good idea to do some further investigation into these liver tumors/masses.... Best of luck!
Tedd
0 -
Zach
Several concerns: First, CT Scans are not that accurate for colon masses since the colon moves around and bunches up, etc. Good that it seems smaller, tho.
The Lung spots had to be cancer if the chemo reduced them in size. Chemo does NOT cure, only shrinks to a size where surgery is possible or might stop or slow growth. Great news, tho, that chemo shrunk the mets. That's a good indicator.
Since the growing spots on your liver lit up on the PET scan, they are almost certainly cancer. When my liver met appeared, the very center of the small (smaller than a dime) sized met lit up. I checked with doctors at University of Chicago, Royal Adelaide Teaching Hospital, Sloan Kettering and MD Andersen. All said NO needle biopsy. Needles can seed (spread cancer cells) throughout the omentrum, etc. while being extracted. ALL said no to the biopsy but straight to surgery for me.
Since you have more than one organ involved, they have not removed your primary cancer (colon). If that had already been removed and with the lung mets minimized, a hepatic resection might have been next with or without removal of the lung spots.
I'll give you a few links on the success of liver surgery (NOT RFA). One is on a solitary met but has great info and the other is on multiple mets.
The chance of this being a second primary tumor is something like 1 in 10,000.
0 -
Hi Zach. I was thinking of
Hi Zach. I was thinking of you the other day and wondering how things were going for you. Im glad to hear things are shrinking. It seems the liver is the easiest to treat so i hope they can wipe those areas out. Have you gone for a second opinion? When my husband had his first cancer years ago we were young with an 18 month old...we took what the docs said and went with it. I regret that now...wondering if the radiation was maybe not needed and maybe we wouldnt be dealing with this stage 4 cancer now. Please make sure you dont trust blindly.
Congrats on your anniversary. I hope its the first of many!0 -
Hi Zach. I was thinking of
Hi Zach. I was thinking of you the other day and wondering how things were going for you. Im glad to hear things are shrinking. It seems the liver is the easiest to treat so i hope they can wipe those areas out. Have you gone for a second opinion? When my husband had his first cancer years ago we were young with an 18 month old...we took what the docs said and went with it. I regret that now...wondering if the radiation was maybe not needed and maybe we wouldnt be dealing with this stage 4 cancer now. Please make sure you dont trust blindly.
Congrats on your anniversary. I hope its the first of many!0 -
News
Sounds like you got more good news than bad and a very Happy Anniversary. It's tough dealing with any marriage when you have married for a long time or short when the other spouse has to be a caregiver. Wishing you the best in the upcoming treatments.
Kim
0 -
Happy Anniversary!!!!!!
IHappy Anniversary!!!!!!
I have no experience with Liver mets so I don't know what the treatment options clearly are... but all options offered above sould about right to me..
But I want to add.. PET CTs .. are know to show false postives often.. so here is hoping you are having a false reading..
0 -
Congratulations on your
Congratulations on your anniversary. I'm sure it's been a challenging year for you and your wife. It should have been an exciting, carefree year.
Congratulations on the shrinkage. As for the liver, there seems to be several different treatments. It sounds like cancer to me. Fatty liver would not light up. A different cancer is very unlikely. Hopefully your doc will figure out a good plan to get it figured out and under control.
All the Best,
Chelsea0 -
Another thought
Zach, your profile says you have 22 polyps plus the large mass. Did they test the tumor for FAP? With your young age, aggressiveness of the cancer and those polyps, all your family should be checked for colon cancer.
0 -
I was wondering how you were doing, Zach...
I'm sorry to hear that your test results weren't more straight-forward, but that does seem to be the nature of the cancer journey. It tends to be something of a roller coaster ride, lots of ups and downs. It's taken me five surgeries (and two failed chemos) to get to NED, so it can be a long process. But you WILL get there....have to hang on, stay strong, and keep the faith. And congratulations on your one year anniversary! Having someone to walk this path with you is a wonderful thing. It's a source of strength and comfort that can't be underestimated. Keep us posted on how things are going. Many hugs and hope coming your way~Ann Alexandria
0 -
thanks for the infoPatchAdams said:Zach
Several concerns: First, CT Scans are not that accurate for colon masses since the colon moves around and bunches up, etc. Good that it seems smaller, tho.
The Lung spots had to be cancer if the chemo reduced them in size. Chemo does NOT cure, only shrinks to a size where surgery is possible or might stop or slow growth. Great news, tho, that chemo shrunk the mets. That's a good indicator.
Since the growing spots on your liver lit up on the PET scan, they are almost certainly cancer. When my liver met appeared, the very center of the small (smaller than a dime) sized met lit up. I checked with doctors at University of Chicago, Royal Adelaide Teaching Hospital, Sloan Kettering and MD Andersen. All said NO needle biopsy. Needles can seed (spread cancer cells) throughout the omentrum, etc. while being extracted. ALL said no to the biopsy but straight to surgery for me.
Since you have more than one organ involved, they have not removed your primary cancer (colon). If that had already been removed and with the lung mets minimized, a hepatic resection might have been next with or without removal of the lung spots.
I'll give you a few links on the success of liver surgery (NOT RFA). One is on a solitary met but has great info and the other is on multiple mets.
The chance of this being a second primary tumor is something like 1 in 10,000.
Hey Patch, that is interesting that they did not want to do a biopsy with a needle, this will be my second one on my liver, so i will have to ask about that. BTW what does RFA stand for? I know the chances of it being a second primary tumor is very rare but i also figured if the other tumors were shrinking why wasnt this one as well? thanks for the links i will take a look at them after work:)
Zach
0 -
thanks for the infoPatchAdams said:Zach
Several concerns: First, CT Scans are not that accurate for colon masses since the colon moves around and bunches up, etc. Good that it seems smaller, tho.
The Lung spots had to be cancer if the chemo reduced them in size. Chemo does NOT cure, only shrinks to a size where surgery is possible or might stop or slow growth. Great news, tho, that chemo shrunk the mets. That's a good indicator.
Since the growing spots on your liver lit up on the PET scan, they are almost certainly cancer. When my liver met appeared, the very center of the small (smaller than a dime) sized met lit up. I checked with doctors at University of Chicago, Royal Adelaide Teaching Hospital, Sloan Kettering and MD Andersen. All said NO needle biopsy. Needles can seed (spread cancer cells) throughout the omentrum, etc. while being extracted. ALL said no to the biopsy but straight to surgery for me.
Since you have more than one organ involved, they have not removed your primary cancer (colon). If that had already been removed and with the lung mets minimized, a hepatic resection might have been next with or without removal of the lung spots.
I'll give you a few links on the success of liver surgery (NOT RFA). One is on a solitary met but has great info and the other is on multiple mets.
The chance of this being a second primary tumor is something like 1 in 10,000.
Hey Patch, that is interesting that they did not want to do a biopsy with a needle, this will be my second one on my liver, so i will have to ask about that. BTW what does RFA stand for? I know the chances of it being a second primary tumor is very rare but i also figured if the other tumors were shrinking why wasnt this one as well? thanks for the links i will take a look at them after work:)
Zach
0 -
yesjen2012 said:Hi Zach. I was thinking of
Hi Zach. I was thinking of you the other day and wondering how things were going for you. Im glad to hear things are shrinking. It seems the liver is the easiest to treat so i hope they can wipe those areas out. Have you gone for a second opinion? When my husband had his first cancer years ago we were young with an 18 month old...we took what the docs said and went with it. I regret that now...wondering if the radiation was maybe not needed and maybe we wouldnt be dealing with this stage 4 cancer now. Please make sure you dont trust blindly.
Congrats on your anniversary. I hope its the first of many!Hey Jen, yes we have gotten a second opnion and both Dr. agreed and said that they would do the same treatment for me, so that was reassuring:) I am sorry about your husbands mis-diagnosis that must be hard and frustrating to deal with! I hope that the new Dr. are a better equiped and are taking good care of you guys.!
0 -
yesjen2012 said:Hi Zach. I was thinking of
Hi Zach. I was thinking of you the other day and wondering how things were going for you. Im glad to hear things are shrinking. It seems the liver is the easiest to treat so i hope they can wipe those areas out. Have you gone for a second opinion? When my husband had his first cancer years ago we were young with an 18 month old...we took what the docs said and went with it. I regret that now...wondering if the radiation was maybe not needed and maybe we wouldnt be dealing with this stage 4 cancer now. Please make sure you dont trust blindly.
Congrats on your anniversary. I hope its the first of many!Hey Jen, yes we have gotten a second opnion and both Dr. agreed and said that they would do the same treatment for me, so that was reassuring:) I am sorry about your husbands mis-diagnosis that must be hard and frustrating to deal with! I hope that the new Dr. are a better equiped and are taking good care of you guys.!
0 -
RFA...bigman4christ said:thanks for the info
Hey Patch, that is interesting that they did not want to do a biopsy with a needle, this will be my second one on my liver, so i will have to ask about that. BTW what does RFA stand for? I know the chances of it being a second primary tumor is very rare but i also figured if the other tumors were shrinking why wasnt this one as well? thanks for the links i will take a look at them after work:)
Zach
stands for radiofrequency ablation. It's a technique that uses heat to destroy the tumor. Hopefully someone on the forum who has had it done can give you more info about it. I think it can be quite effective for liver tumors (if that's what this turns out to be). The issue of some tumors shrinking while others do not is unfortunately kind of common, based on what I've read on these boards. Recent research has shown that each tumor can have its own, unique physiology, causing repsonse to chemo to vary in different parts of the body. AA
0 -
Up
Up
0
Discussion Boards
- All Discussion Boards
- 6 CSN Information
- 6 Welcome to CSN
- 121.8K Cancer specific
- 2.8K Anal Cancer
- 446 Bladder Cancer
- 309 Bone Cancers
- 1.6K Brain Cancer
- 28.5K Breast Cancer
- 397 Childhood Cancers
- 27.9K Colorectal Cancer
- 4.6K Esophageal Cancer
- 1.2K Gynecological Cancers (other than ovarian and uterine)
- 13K Head and Neck Cancer
- 6.4K Kidney Cancer
- 671 Leukemia
- 792 Liver Cancer
- 4.1K Lung Cancer
- 5.1K Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin)
- 237 Multiple Myeloma
- 7.1K Ovarian Cancer
- 61 Pancreatic Cancer
- 487 Peritoneal Cancer
- 5.5K Prostate Cancer
- 1.2K Rare and Other Cancers
- 539 Sarcoma
- 730 Skin Cancer
- 653 Stomach Cancer
- 191 Testicular Cancer
- 1.5K Thyroid Cancer
- 5.8K Uterine/Endometrial Cancer
- 6.3K Lifestyle Discussion Boards