Hipec if cancer other places

briefly i had similar disease spread peritoneal mets, 2 big liver suckers and a small lung.

i was advised by sugarbaker indirectly not to bother with hipec if i could not get other cancer stable or reduced. you get all chopped and it comes back.

this happened to rick ( may he rest in peace ). I place alot of value on our shared experiences, maybe you could consider mine.

that said my hipec surgeon prof morris was willing to cut and dice me. its just i was a nervous nellie, so i chickened out to germany as a last ditcvh effort to avoid chemo and hardcore surgery and six months hardcore systemic chemo. with 33% survival odds.

going to germany was the best decision I have ever made, now that my results are in.

goodluck with whatever you decide.

hugs,

Pete

ps the strategy has to be stopping new mets and controlling the existing ones. chemo just does not work as a cure.  dr chang in new york does dendritic cell vaccines made out of the lab i am going to in 9 days to get my second vaccine made. pm me for details or read my blog, search vaccines.

I think you and I are both searching for whatever options are out there to help us, as we have had similar diagnosis from our oncologists (i.e. chemo for life, no surgical option).  Best of luck, and stay strong.

Tedd

LivinginNH said:

Hi,
Rick had the surgery at

Hi,

Rick had the surgery at Tufts Medical in Boston.  His surgeon was Dr. Martin Goodman.  He's really a great doctor, very skilled and quite personable.

Feel free to send me a PM if you have any HIPEC questions.

Take care,

Cynthia

 

dear cynthia,

this is such a hard twisted illness, how can I ever thank you for sharing what you learnt for rick's hipec with me.

when you shared your experience in a way made me less inclined to be diced and chopped and chemo'd, i went to germany instead and had hipec as a fallback.

sweety if my crazy path is a workable, reliable path, well you can smile and have a tear or two. i would not have been on that plane on the 6th oct 2012 full of cancer without hearing ricks story.

I never shared this here before, a few weeks into german therapy, i made a new close friend who had been HIPECed recently by my surgeon, he hated the surgeon. He was opened, screwwed and closed. Sometimes gungho surgeons fail, that was my friend's case. Hearing his story, I felt even more relief at differing my HIPEC. My friends's PCI was to high, its was an open and close with alot of poking about, with a dash of palliative surgery. It still took 4 hours and a few months to recover. During the surgery / recovery window my friends cancer grew into his stomach. he is fighting a very tough battle, not made any easier by his HIPEC. so HIPEC has to be balanced with other options.

now i am leaving back to germany on the 2nd february without any visible cancer on the scan and hopefully my cea will be zero when tested on tuesday. here is hoping.

thank you again cynthia for sharing whats been life enhancing if not life saving advice. rick is looking after us in a way.

HIPEC is a great option, don't get me wrong, I am still on the list, but the surgeon does not want to see me until after i get back from my next german vacation with some medicine on the side. Given they don't do systemic chemo, most onc would say your not having any treatment.

hugs,

Pete

PSit seems finding the real risks of conventional therapies is left to our community, thats the silver lining when you share our suffering and loss, we lighten our load and educate our friends. As educated patients we can ask about the risks based on the stories we have shared.

PPS I have an opening to have a consult with the german HIPEC surgeon, one of the best they say, doing the trial preop HIPEC. I will try and see him, to see if he wants to cut and dice me like my sydney surgeon does. To my sydney surgeons credit, he is offering me 50/50 odds of lasting 5 years, up from 33% in early october. He cannot factor in the german therapies. I am grateful he is managing my case based on his clinical experience, for that i am respectful. can you see how tricky being well is. but its worth all the effort. The sydney HIPEC surgeons pessimism was a factor in making my return to germany so easy.