The liver mets are where they are supposed to be

Tueffel
Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1

Hello guys,

I hope you are going strong and are during this virus spread safe. 

A lot happened and I wanted to give some updates on my dad, 56, with MS and colon cancer stage 4.

My dad is since Tuesday in the hospital. On Wednesday was the first very important surgery against the cancer. 

But let me start about the CT.

The CT was good. The MRI also but I have no idea why they did it. Probably the MRI is more precise. The Chemo made the liver metastases smaller like the oncologist team hoped and expected. So they wanted to operate him on the liver to get the metastases out.

He was then a few weeks without chemo. It went so well for him. The chemo made him really tired and he had a metallic taste but with each day it got better. He did a lot of work at home before the surgery. We have a farm and during my dads disease we have a substitute. My mom was like "at the moment your dad is doing so good. I dont even need a substitute." He also gained 7.5kg (around 15 pounds). The last time we weighed him in Feb before his stoma surgery. 

So on Wednesday was the surgery on his liver. One metastases was just above it but one was in the tissue so more complicated. I was quite afraid because I had in class everything what can go wrong during a surgery. My dad got general anesthesia. They actually wanted to do an epidural but due to the MS my dad was not really in favor for it. The anesthesiologist understood that. 

The surgery went like the surgeons expected so the liver mets are where they are supposed to be: out of my dads body. Hopefully they never come back. I called my dad on Friday. He was still tired and grumpy. He could walk around just fine berfore the chemo and now he is too tired to watch TV. He lost a little blood but thats okay. He did not have a transfusion. My mom says he is still tired and I think he will need a long time to recover but I hope it will heal well. The rest of the recovery he can do at home and sleep there and eat. 

I hope he continues to get stronger and better. But for now everything seems good. In 6 weeks they are planning to remove the cancer in the colon. I hope and pray that during this break of chemo the cancer does not get stupid ideas and stays death. I hope that on 20th July, my birthday, the doctors will give the best birthday present ever: NED. Or maybe close to it cause I think that they maybe would like to add one or two chemos. 

But for now we are on our way and it seems to be good. 

Tueffel

Comments

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,804 Member
    edited May 2020 #2
    That seems like good news

    It is always good to get surgery and get those little beggars out of there. I am sure he will gain his strenght back soon, if he gets his appetite back and can move around more.  Then of course, there will be more surgery.  

    At 56, he's still pretty young - at least that is what my Doctor's told me, as I was about that age while going through it.

    I hope you get your desired Birthday gift. NED for Dad. 

    Tru

  • SnapDragon2
    SnapDragon2 Member Posts: 720 Member
    edited May 2020 #3
    It is so good to hear surgery

    It is so good to hear surgery was a success!!!  Yes, those mets are gone for good and I know it has to be huge weight lifted.  Keep us posted on recovery.

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    edited May 2020 #4
    Trubrit said:

    That seems like good news

    It is always good to get surgery and get those little beggars out of there. I am sure he will gain his strenght back soon, if he gets his appetite back and can move around more.  Then of course, there will be more surgery.  

    At 56, he's still pretty young - at least that is what my Doctor's told me, as I was about that age while going through it.

    I hope you get your desired Birthday gift. NED for Dad. 

    Tru

    Ecen though it is hard

    They are out bit the recovery is so different than to other surgeries my dad had before. He had a bleeding but until now he got no transfusion but he takes iron supplements now. He could sit but would like to walk. But he is still exhausted. He had quite an active night because of a headache. His oncologist and neurologist will talk together now. But he is without pain now.

    Yesterday was a really hard day for him. Not because of pain or any other side effects. It was all mentally. He cant do what he wants to do, lost patience, was homesick (due to corona no visitors) and he was in a really bad mood. My grandma got him back on track but it was really hard for him with sentences like "Why I am doing this?" Or "Let me just end this life". Not nice to hear but I think many people here who had liver surgery and other surgeries before will say that the liver surgery was rge hardest for them in every aspect. He is normally a very positive person and I think he will get better when he gets more energy although the anemia is not helping...

    Yeah my dad is quite young. Will be better because the surceries and chemos were or will be hard. I think someone older or in other words with more hralth issues would have it harder. 

    I hope so too. I am already counting the days when my online classes are over and I can go home. We live on the countryside and our internet is not good. I cant wait to hug my dad and of course my mom. I need to give them other ideas and give them my positivity :)

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    edited May 2020 #5
    SnapDragon2 said:

    It is so good to hear surgery

    It is so good to hear surgery was a success!!!  Yes, those mets are gone for good and I know it has to be huge weight lifted.  Keep us posted on recovery.

    Thanks but then the recovery is not easy.

    He has anemia and is tired. He could only sit and not walk. Yesterday was a really bad day. He was depressive and all bad emotions were just pooling together. He could not walk, was weak, homesick, visitors, and the thoughts why he is suffering through this. My grandma told me he just wanted to give on the fight against cancer. That was really scary to hear cause my dad is so strong and positive but my grandma told me that at some point after a big surgery your emotions are a mess. She never had a Liver surgery but they wanted to replace her hip joint and when she was there on the table, everything was ready, the surgeon realized that they ordered the wrong replacement. She had an open wound until they operated her again the next day. So yeah I hope grandma got him back on track. I could only help with homesickness.

    It will get easier for him at home. He can sleep, mom will cook. 

    But yeah I am already figuring out ways on how to lighten his mood for his next surgery. He could get my tablet to watch netflix, stuff animals I hold dear so he does hame something to cuddle. We will see!

  • Ruthmomto4
    Ruthmomto4 Member Posts: 708 Member
    #6
    I am glad the resection went well!

    I am sure he is just overwhelmed, and not having visitors can be very hard. My husband has had two resection sand it takes at least a month to feel better, and 2 months to feel back to normal. I hope everything goes smoothly from here!

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    #7
    UPDATE

    My dad is home now. He was a little bit more than 2 weeks in the hospital. He gets medication and a nurse comes every day to change wound dressing. Still het gets to get back to normal. He easily exhausted, if he eats too much the scar gets irritated. 

    But the food is better.

    He got a doctors letter back home. I have not translated it yet. They need me to translate medical language into normal language. My dad told me that he has apparently a slow growing tumor and that one metastases was with 13cm quite big and formed like a thorn. I can not really believe that especially because when they talked about USG and CT measurements of it in Feb it was less than 3cm in diameter and the chemo was supposed to make it smaller. 

    I am getting a little anxious here if they really got everything out but my mom wont send it to me till tomorrow...

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    edited May 2020 #8
    Ruthmomto4 said:

    I am glad the resection went well!

    I am sure he is just overwhelmed, and not having visitors can be very hard. My husband has had two resection sand it takes at least a month to feel better, and 2 months to feel back to normal. I hope everything goes smoothly from here!

    Thanks

    I think he was in a situation where everything was just too much. 1 to 2 months is a lot of time especially because the colon tumor still needs to get out which will throw him back to 0 again. My dad needs to be patient for a long time then. 

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