Recurrence-Avastin-rectal pain and inflammation and now perforation in small intestine.

We are sending our thoughts and prayers for your Dad and family,

If his intestine is perferated I would think they are going to open him up.  They need the space to be able to clean up the abdmin so he does not get sepsis.  If they do Laproscopy the risk is they can easily mis something.  (I know of people whom have had each, and the opened up seem to do better.)

Sorry to hear that the Folfiri did not do well for yourr dad.  There are other Chemo types.  Folfox did not do well for me, and Folfiri was the trick.

Best Always,  mike

Very sorry to hear abour your father's situation.  I have no experience or knowledge about the surgery.  As another has posted, I have heard of some side effects from Avastin.  For me, all of hese treatments are a risk to reward trade.  I hope that your father soon improves...hope and peace to you both.   Art

Perforations due to avastin are not as rare as oncologists make out. I have been off avastin for over a month and I still get chunky lumps if congealed blood every time I blow my nose. With a half life of 21 days, it will be at least 2-3 months to get it out of my system. Just like the lining of the nose, avastin loves to play havoc with the endothelial lining of the intestines. I had problems with my rectum in particular with painful fissures that just did not want to heal.

jane283 said:

fissures

how did the fissures heal?since dad is passing stool from the fissure now they need to resect..

When I was going to get Avastin my oncologist talked about possibility of perforation ..... he said it mainly happens when people still have their tumor in their colon....but since I didn't have a tumor in my colon, it was resected,   that it was less likely I would have a perforation.    But, yeah, definitely that was something my oncologist brought up.  

jane283 said:

thanks all

he is going into surgery today despite being less than a month since avastin was stopped..now that he is passing stool from rectum instead of the colostomy site,the perforation is ni small intestine and now there is a fissure or an absess that is hurting bleeding and releasing fecal matter...

I am finding it very hard to believe everything is happenign so fast....we are still planning a surgery despite all the complications...

side note:post avastin hsi overall health has deteriorated a lot and his lungs and heart too are not functionaing too well....

 

pls keep us in your prayers...will post a POST-OP update soon!

My heart took a hit post Avastin as well.....prolonged use of the drug can cause congestive heart failure....though the company literature did not state 'how long' that would be.

I got a heart tic from it and find myself gasping for a breath here and there and it feels like I'm trying to breathe the heart back into rhythm......it was much worse at first...very scary actually.....over time it lessened,and I don't feel like I'm going to die, but it is still an attention getter when it happens.....and it happens multiple times a day, everyday.

I had always heard that you needed to do surgery 6-8 weeks post Avastin, but it sounds like your situation requires immediate intervention at this time....I'm wishing you all well and success with the procedure.  I'm so sorry he is going through all of that.

Just a difficult thing that so many of us have to go through fighting this fight....

Here's to a successful outcome in the O/R!

jane283 said:

fissures

how did the fissures heal?since dad is passing stool from the fissure now they need to resect..

took about 3 weeks to heal for me. They came back a few more times, but nothing as bad as the very first time. If you are constipated and push too hard, this can cause them very easily. an enema to soften the stool beforehand can be a good solution too.