My mom

themis01
themis01 Member Posts: 167
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi all,
My mom is recovering from her partially successful surgery to remove metastisized colon cancer. She is left with several small tumors throughout the abdomen and liver. She will be starting Folfiri on Sept. 7th. I have several concerns about different issues ..please respond to any or all of them if you can!!
1. When doing Folfox4 regimen (did 6 treatments) her PET scan came back with nothing lit up but later her cat scans showed all tumors there but the same size as the start. Because of this the Onc. told her the folfox was a total failure and switching to Folfiri. Doesn't it appear it did some good since the Pet scan did not light up after 4 sessions?
Going with the "folfox failure" diagnosis the onc is switching to folfiri and told me on the phone he doesn't expect much in the way of results since folfox didn't do much. What do you all think about this??
Another worry I have is that she lost 15 pounds on the last chemo and has not gained it back since she went straight into surgery. At this point she absolutely does not have a pound to lose. With diarrhea as the main side effect i am worried she will get underweight and not be able to keep going. Any insight on this? Her surgeons have said not to overdose on veggies or fruits at this point because she had a lot of the short bowel taken out and is still having diarrhea as her bowel adjusts.
She is REALLY down right now and desperately needs good news. The surgeon felt that he gave her a year based on what he did during surgery but the oncologist seems much more negative. He told me that he wondered if we are in denial and if we all really understand that she IS at some point going to die from this metastic disease and that the situation is not good at all for her. I have not told her all of what the onc said because he has always been much more frank with me and tried to be somewhat more positive with her while still stating the facts. After talking with him on the phone I was so depressed and wondered all day if I am in denial as far as thinking she has a fighting chance. Throughout all of this I have been her #1 cheerleader and believer but I don't want to give false hope either.
Thanks to all. Congrats to all of the neds.
Erika

Comments

  • chynabear
    chynabear Member Posts: 481 Member
    #2
    Dear Erika,

    I am so sorry to hear of your mom's troubles. She is lucky to have you on her side through all of this. I know this can't be easy on you and I hope you find a way to take care of you as well.

    I don't know much about those treatment options as I was treated differently. I do want to recommend you pick up a book called "Beating Cancer with Nutrition" by Dr. Quillin. I have recently picked it up and have been applying his lessons to my life. In his book, he also recommends some nutritionally focused doctors. I know of others on this board, who I'm sure will respond, who have taken a nutritional approach to fighting cancer and have had tremendous results. Dr. Quillin states that nearly 40% of all cancer related deaths are due to malnutrition. Your body relies upon it's immune system to fight disease and being malnurished it is set to fail. Dr. Quillin has done a great job at giving a summary of the important parts of his book for those who are too ill to read the entire book and he has included a CD of the book as well.

    I know that the outcome does not look good. Saying that, I think you should be "aware" that she might not make it. However, miracles happen every day and there are many Stage IV's who are having NED come into their lives. It is important not to give up. Personally, I would find a new oncologist if you have that option. If your oncologist is not in the fight, then you need to find one who will be. Negativity and stress feed into cancer. Maybe you can check out treatments that are being tested (can't think of the term right now). It is important to know that there are other options to check out.

    Good Luck to you and please keep us informed. We're all in this aweful fight together. I'll keep you in my prayers.

    Patricia

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