Pet was a good decision UPDATE Surgery

Tueffel
Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
edited February 2021 in Colorectal Cancer #1

Hello,

The PET of my dad was a good decision. It found 2 small liver tumors. We dont know if they were there at the beginning, just too small to detect, or if they are new and grew in the last weeks. So, we have no idea of it was always there or if it is a relapse. He is now 2 mpnths without chemo so I think they are declared as synchronous metastases and not as relapse.  I hoped the PET scan would show nothing but I heard it already in my parents voices that we still need to fight.

The good thing is: the surgeon will call so they can operate. We still have a chance of cure but it will take longer again. My dad actually hated the liver surgery but he will do it nevertheless because he wants to beat the cancer. If it is cancer we will know when we have the biopsy report.

We now have to handle the disappointment that the fight is still not over. Of course we are grateful for the Pet, that it showed something in a stage where we can operate, but after 12 months I was hoping for a longer time...

 

UPDATE 5th Feb: Surgery is 17th February. According to the surgeon small lesions which were there at the beginning but too small to identify properly. They are also on the liver according to my dad so I hope it might be easier this time. So good news and with a plan I feel calmer already

Comments

  • abita
    abita Member Posts: 1,152 Member
    edited February 2021 #2
    I am glad for him that they

    I am glad for him that they are operable. My recurrence was 2 small liver lesions, not operable. I get why he would dread a surgery. But it is a good thing, relatively speaking.

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    #3
    abita said:

    I am glad for him that they

    I am glad for him that they are operable. My recurrence was 2 small liver lesions, not operable. I get why he would dread a surgery. But it is a good thing, relatively speaking.

    I do agree

    Yeah we are thankful that the doctors wanted a PET. I dont want to know what happened if they did not. Also that the surgeon will call is a good sign. Papa is preparing already for it. He knows he has t go throw it and he wats to live but it is hard especially because he felt so good, got fat. We need to handle this now, even though it is not bad. It is just the expectation that got crashed. 

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    #4
    Trubrit said:

    Onward and upward

    Gosh, that reminded me so much of how I felt when they found my liver met, via a PET scan.  I had already had ten surgeries - not all Cancer related, and I was heartily sick of them. In fact, just the thought of going through another surgery almost made me physically vomit.  My heart was surely hurting with disappointment.....BUT.... we know what we HAVE to do, becasue we WANT to live and if ti means another damn surgery, then sign me up. 

    I am sorry he has to go through more, and I am sorry for the whole disappointment of it all, but glad that he has the option of surgery. 

    He made it through the last one, and he will make it through this one, and then, hopefully, it will be 'the last one'. 

    Thank you for the update. 

    Tru

    Liver surgery

    Actually my dad said once that he would not volunteer for a liver surgery again because it was hard on him. Today he simply said "it is what it is". 

    It is a disappointment because everything from the diagnosis on went upward. (Maybe the Kras mutation is a setback) Everything went according to plan but now this. No idea how to handle this? My biggest fear is that it developed during chemo and that it was not there at the beginning... nobody can say. 

    When it settled and we will have a plan, I think I will feel better that they detected and found it at a stage where we can have surgery. Even if he has go go through surgery and chemo again, he will. 

    We say here "your words in gods ear" I mean with that the last one. I do hope it is the last one, that they find everything now, remove it. My dad wants to have another pet scan, just to be sure at some point and I agree. Maybe September we should discuss another one to check. 

    My bigest worry is unfortunately always the KRAS mutation. Dont know why but its my biggest fear. Probably of the people here fighting with it. 

    But I think nothing is lost yet. Many here had setbacks, they still made it and as long as he can get operated everythibg is good. 

    Thank you for your words and like I said "your words in gods ear".

    Tueffel

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,804 Member
    edited February 2021 #5
    Onward and upward

    Gosh, that reminded me so much of how I felt when they found my liver met, via a PET scan.  I had already had ten surgeries - not all Cancer related, and I was heartily sick of them. In fact, just the thought of going through another surgery almost made me physically vomit.  My heart was surely hurting with disappointment.....BUT.... we know what we HAVE to do, becasue we WANT to live and if ti means another damn surgery, then sign me up. 

    I am sorry he has to go through more, and I am sorry for the whole disappointment of it all, but glad that he has the option of surgery. 

    He made it through the last one, and he will make it through this one, and then, hopefully, it will be 'the last one'. 

    Thank you for the update. 

    Tru

  • beaumontdave
    beaumontdave Member Posts: 1,289 Member
    #6
    Had to have that second liver

    Had to have that second liver surgery, as well, such a letdown, but at least it was one spot and gettable. Labor Day weekend, 2014 they got it out, and now every Labor Day weekend is that much more special. Tell your pop to hang in there, it's worth it!.......................................................................Dave

  • abita
    abita Member Posts: 1,152 Member
    edited February 2021 #7
    Tueffel said:

    I do agree

    Yeah we are thankful that the doctors wanted a PET. I dont want to know what happened if they did not. Also that the surgeon will call is a good sign. Papa is preparing already for it. He knows he has t go throw it and he wats to live but it is hard especially because he felt so good, got fat. We need to handle this now, even though it is not bad. It is just the expectation that got crashed. 

    A sucker punch to the gut. I

    A sucker punch to the gut. I remember that feeling well. I believe I dropped to the ground when I tried to leave after finding out I was not "cured". He must be devastated.

  • worriedson714
    worriedson714 Member Posts: 333 Member
    #8
    Tueffel said:

    Liver surgery

    Actually my dad said once that he would not volunteer for a liver surgery again because it was hard on him. Today he simply said "it is what it is". 

    It is a disappointment because everything from the diagnosis on went upward. (Maybe the Kras mutation is a setback) Everything went according to plan but now this. No idea how to handle this? My biggest fear is that it developed during chemo and that it was not there at the beginning... nobody can say. 

    When it settled and we will have a plan, I think I will feel better that they detected and found it at a stage where we can have surgery. Even if he has go go through surgery and chemo again, he will. 

    We say here "your words in gods ear" I mean with that the last one. I do hope it is the last one, that they find everything now, remove it. My dad wants to have another pet scan, just to be sure at some point and I agree. Maybe September we should discuss another one to check. 

    My bigest worry is unfortunately always the KRAS mutation. Dont know why but its my biggest fear. Probably of the people here fighting with it. 

    But I think nothing is lost yet. Many here had setbacks, they still made it and as long as he can get operated everythibg is good. 

    Thank you for your words and like I said "your words in gods ear".

    Tueffel

    Good idea

    Sorry to hear about your dad wishing him the best with the surgery and if I was your dad I would want another pet scan as well . Cause my dad's pet scan showed uptake in his abdominal lining and they don't even think it's cancer at first they thought cancer now they don't know radiation oncologist says 50 50 it's there oncologist and surgeron not cancer now  . It seems like pet scans can have alot of reasons to show uptake I know it's the best test for cancer but for my personal experience CT scans seem to be better . 

  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    edited February 2021 #9
    Cut it out

    If they can cut it out then that is a good thing.  I'm sorry that your dad is going to go through more surgery, but it sounds like these are small enough to deal with at this time.  The attitude that your parents have is important as well, it helps in their mental state as well as their healing going forward.  Wishing your father the best.

    Kim

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    #10
    abita said:

    A sucker punch to the gut. I

    A sucker punch to the gut. I remember that feeling well. I believe I dropped to the ground when I tried to leave after finding out I was not "cured". He must be devastated.

    It was quite a punch

    It was quite hard to understand that there is still something and tbh I got a little paranoid now thinking "what if my dad missunderstood and they cant operate him?" But the tumor board was on wedbesday and I do believe his surgeon was there.

    I am so sorry for you! I dont know how you handle it. We still have a silver lining with the surgery that we can see. Yours are covered by clouds. But who knows what will happen? Today is a new day and it will get better for sure

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    #11
    worriedson714 said:

    Good idea

    Sorry to hear about your dad wishing him the best with the surgery and if I was your dad I would want another pet scan as well . Cause my dad's pet scan showed uptake in his abdominal lining and they don't even think it's cancer at first they thought cancer now they don't know radiation oncologist says 50 50 it's there oncologist and surgeron not cancer now  . It seems like pet scans can have alot of reasons to show uptake I know it's the best test for cancer but for my personal experience CT scans seem to be better . 

    CT/MRI

    Hey thank you! Actually CT, MRI and USG were not clear enough. Except for the PET they would do 3 months MRIs to detect if it grew or not. MRI also only showed one lesion and not 2. So in my dads case the PET scan worked fine on him so he wants to do it again to exclude further things. Still he will see the otolaryngologist because there is something in his throat axcording to PET but my dad has a little sore throat so might be just an inflammation or infection. 

    What it is in the liver we will know for sure after they cut it out and the biopsy was done. 

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    #12
    beaumontdave said:

    Had to have that second liver

    Had to have that second liver surgery, as well, such a letdown, but at least it was one spot and gettable. Labor Day weekend, 2014 they got it out, and now every Labor Day weekend is that much more special. Tell your pop to hang in there, it's worth it!.......................................................................Dave

    Thanks

    Thank you! Of course I am worried especially because his last liver surgery was in May and they might have been there at the beginning but as long we can cut it out, we will. Papa is willing to fight, he has too and he thunks he will handle it better than last time. He knows what to expect, so in his mind he is already packing nuts for a week to eat ;)

  • Tueffel
    Tueffel Member Posts: 327 Member
    #13
    Annabelle41415 said:

    Cut it out

    If they can cut it out then that is a good thing.  I'm sorry that your dad is going to go through more surgery, but it sounds like these are small enough to deal with at this time.  The attitude that your parents have is important as well, it helps in their mental state as well as their healing going forward.  Wishing your father the best.

    Kim

    Surgery

    Yeah I do hope that we will get soon an appointment for the surgery or that a plan is there. I just hope my dad did not missunderstand and thinks he will have surgery for sure while the surgeons think "we need to check first" but I believe they will not us something like that. They alwa,s gave clear info and shis surgeon is part of the tumor board and they had a meeting the day before. Got a little nervous about that in the last hours. 

    We know that my dad is in good hands. We need to do it but as long as cure is on the horizon we will manage

  • abita
    abita Member Posts: 1,152 Member
    edited February 2021 #14
    Tueffel said:

    It was quite a punch

    It was quite hard to understand that there is still something and tbh I got a little paranoid now thinking "what if my dad missunderstood and they cant operate him?" But the tumor board was on wedbesday and I do believe his surgeon was there.

    I am so sorry for you! I dont know how you handle it. We still have a silver lining with the surgery that we can see. Yours are covered by clouds. But who knows what will happen? Today is a new day and it will get better for sure

    I think when you are told

    I think when you are told this information, whether they can operate of not is something that is glued in your memory, so I am sure he heard them right.

    Don't be too sorry for me. I am sure that my miracle will be discovered, and that is why I fight so hard to hang in there with the chemo keeping me here until it is ready. 

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