possible liver mets

ccartwri · December 2005

Hi everyone. Claudia here. I have not been here for a while. I have read a lot but not written. Been in a funky mode. Kind of denial. Feeling good and trying to get away from cancer everything.

I had rectal cancer diagnosed May 27 05. age 34. I gave birth April 2. I had radn and chemo with an experimental drug TNFerade injected in the tumor in June and July. in a clinical trial. I had surgery early September. Had lots of complications with internal abscesses and was in the hospital for weeks. Thought I would die of depression. Since then have been feeling great. Not back at work yet but spending time with my baby and doiing acupuncture, reiki, massage and trying to succesfully meditate. I do yoga some too but have not been consistent since surgery. I looked into all sorts of nutritional stuff and tried macrobiotics and others and now just try to eat better. Really need to not drink wine, huh? Anyway, i had a CT last week. suspicious liver lesions. I did not even ask what or where. Just what do I do now? I had a PET CT friday and an MRI today. I feel it in my gut that this is bad. I had 13 of 16 positive nodes at surgery for the rectal tumor (with a temp ileostomy placed....that i just hate....it is constantly a big party balloon with air...). I am terrified. I had signet cell cancer and i know it is aggressive and as much as I try not to concentrate on population stats, they are not good. It is is not good that not even two months into chemo (Folfox 4...I am at 4 of 12 tmts) I may have spread. any words of wisdom???

chynabear · December 2005

Hi Claudia.

I am so sorry that you are going through this. It brought tears to my eyes reading this. My daughter was only a year old when I was diagnosed. Cancer is scary business. Having a baby and getting cancer made it a million times scarier for me.

Here's my two cents. I took up scuba diving around ten years ago. The day we went out for our test dive, the boat driver (with many years of scuba experience) gave this advice. When anything happens, check to see if you are still breathing. If you are still able to pull air into your lungs you are ok. Stop panicking and realize that as long as you can breath you are fine.

It's funny how often that advice pop's up in life. You are alive and able to breath. There is still hope.

I am praying that your "instinct" or "gut feeling" turns out wrong. If it has spread to your liver, it may have already spread before you even had surgery or radiation. The cells could have been so small that they were undetectible. I really hope that the PET/CT has some explanations. You could sure use some right about now.

If it doesn't, remember that you are still able to breath. There are some amazing advances in medicine every day. Read the article a few posts down if you haven't already about the new information they have about how cancer metasticizes. There are so many success stories on this board to show you that there is always hope. And that is really what you need. There is no reason why YOU can't be the one to beat this. People have liver resections just like the colon resection and there are some successfull medicines for liver cancer.

You are already heading in the right direction with lowering your stress and doing yoga and eating healthier. I applaud that. It is hard work, I know. I've been trying hard to do all of the right stuff for my body since this summer.

Depression is common among cancer patients. To top it off, you just had a baby which can give you some post depression. Speak to you doctor. Look for natural cures for depression or ask about some prescription ones. Speak to a counselor, maybe someone who has been through cancer themselves.

And above all else, enjoy your new baby.

Patricia

2bhealed · December 2005

Hi Claudia,

It's nice to hear from you again. How's that adorable little baby girl?

I may take some flak for this answer (it's happened before) but I will give you it straight from my heart (which is in a good place):

RADICAL MEASURES FOR RADICAL OUTCOME

Yes, quit the wine. It's sugar and cancer feeds on sugar. Denial will keep you from focusing on your healing. How can you heal something that you ignore?

I was given a 30% chance of living without doing the chemo. I opted to NOT do the chemo and I am alive and kicking and NED four years and four months later. But I didn't do nothing. I did A LOT!

JUICE raw veggies and fruits--your body will thrive on the live enzymes and the acid/alkaline will balance out if you do plenty of GREENS

GREEN = LIFE

Anti-oxidants are very important as are omega oils. Those (the omega-3) will help with your depression. Fish Oils are key for this. Then you can avoid Psychotropics which are so harsh and dangerous (and throw your body into an acid state).

Medicial Mushrooms are proven to help intestinal cancers. Check into these.

Find a Naturoapthic Doctor who can help you with the nutitional supplements that could very well save your life.

"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food. "

You're taking a wonderful approach doing the acupuncture and reiki and massage. Doing yoga consistently would be a great goal since it increases your oxygen circulation which is helpful in cancer healing.

As for the liver lesions Scouty can help you there. Her success is not a fluke--there are many like her.

But it takes dedication and focus to do the "program" and it's nothing to mess with. We're talking about our lives here.

JUICE JUICE JUICE!!

Personally I combined juicing with macrobiotics for my winning combo added to the many many supplements and herbs.

Cancer cannot live in an alkaline state...so getting off acid foods is imperative if you are dealing with active cancer.

Get off:

ALL WHITES!! sugar, grains, flours

and remember that alcohol is sugar to your body.

When you get your one year NED then open that Champagne but until then why not just focus on GREEN and NATURAL.

Anyway, again, I am just telling you this from my heart. My baby was 20 months old when I got my dx. My sister left a 5 month old baby girl when she died of intestinal cancer. She couldn't give up chocolate and eat GREEN, and at the end was just drinking Ensure (which is sugar laden).

This disease is horrific y'all. Maybe that I watched my sister die an agonizing death has "scared me straight". Maybe that is a blessing in my life. Maybe watching her have to get her belly drained of fluid (she looked 9 months preggie within days filling upwith cancer fluid), or maybe knowing that at 33 she was wearing Depends since her bowels gave up on her, or that this once athletic beautiful woman was now 80 pounds of flesh-covered bone looking 83 not 33. She was yellow (liver function gone) and her hair was in clumps and dull.

Maybe, just maybe, if everyone of us could peek into the future to see what dying of intestinal cancer looks like we would be serious about diet and healing.

This is not towards you Claudia but for ALL of us dealing with this horrific disease.

So my words of wisdom are borne of experience. Do it before it's too late.....FIND A NATUROPATH !!

I've said it before--oncologists know diddly-squat about cancer healing nutrition. They will "manage" your cancer with drugs but they cannot offer healing of your body systems. Cancer is a SYMPTOM of a larger issue. Find out what that means for you.

peace, emily who does not wish what she has seen and lived on anyone.

Kanort · December 2005

Wow, I don't know whether Claudia's post or the two eloquent responses brought more tears to my ears.

All I can add is that I will keep you in my heart and prayers. I may can offer a little emotional help in the way of a healing bag that I would love to send you. Please give me your mailing address via our personal emails. The same applies to you, Patricia. Emily already has hers.

All my best,

Kay

CAMaura · December 2005

Hi Claudia.....I am so sorry that you have been in a funk about stuff......Damn this crap. It hits all of us. But I am so glad that you are feeling well; and you really are taking steps to take care of yourself. That is just wonderful. I have a question for you. Do you know why they added in the MRI? I was hoping to have one instead of a CT this time (for less radiation)......but my Gastro spoke with radiologist and and was told that the CT detected lesions better. I am for the non-invasive if possible...any info? Hang in there and I hope your tests come out fine. If not, hit the nutrition.....it has worked wonders and will strengthen your overall situation...... Only good thoughts coming your way. All the best - Maura

scouty · December 2005

Claudia,

Nice to hear from you again. I can't add much more to Emily's message other then to tell you that my listening to Emily is why I am alive today. I am supposed to be dead now and am just fine. I did chemo for 8 months to treat my stage IV situation and felt it was killing me so I stopped taking it with a rectal tumor, 2 liver mets and 1 lung met all still around (I never had surgery). I found a naturopathic doctor and totally changed my lifestyle. By lifestyle, I mean diet, juicing, supplements, exercise, ridding my life of negative energy, but mostly for the first time in my life, I started taking care of me, instead of everyone else.

Beets are great for the liver. The ancient Chinese considered them royalty and whomever grew them immediately were elevated in status within the community.

Water, water, water.....drink it like a camel. Flush out the crap from your body, but then replenish and rejuvinate it with greens and fresh stuff including juicing.

None of this is easy, but I do think God does this to us to see what we are made of and how much we can endure. It sucks big time sometimes, but do the best you can do and trust your gut and our God. Try to think positive thoughts and think about all the things you want to live for.....like watching your new daughter graduate from college. Then after thinking about that, cuss the **** cells and tell them to get the hell out of your body!!!!!!! It is your body, not theirs. Take it back from them. Reverse their comfort zone. Fight them on their on their front, within you body.

Lisa P.

jana11 · December 2005

Claudia,

I second and third what everyone said. Just wanted to send another note telling you how much I care about you.

Try to keep your thoughts positive. This is your daughter's first christmas right? Try to see the world through her eyes and enjoy every individual moment.

love,jana

Betsydoglover · December 2005

Hi Claudia - I just wanted to say that I'm glad to hear from you - have thought of you often and wondered how your surgery went. I'm glad you are getting back on your feet and enjoying your beautiful daughter. Scary as it is, remember that a Stage IV diagnosis is not necessarily the end of the world. There are many examples of that of this site and they sure do serve as my personal inspiration, having also just been diagnosed in May.

I am praying for good results for you.

If you do go the naturopath route, I'd love to find out who you see and what you think (we both live in the DC Maryland suburbs). I'm strongly considering seeking out the same myself.

Betsy

markatger · December 2005

Hi Claudia,

I echo others with my sympathies to your having to deal with cancer during what is normally a very challenging but joyous time of having a new baby.

I was also diagnosed this year with rectal cancer, had radiation during the summer, proctectomy in September with J pouch constrcution and a temporary ileostomy.

I had some rough times post op with blockages and also adjusting to the ileostomy. I am doing much better physically and am somewhat used to my ileostomy. I wanted to make sure you knew that there are many websites for support and products for ostomy patients. I read a lot on Shaz's ostomy page. http://www.ostomates.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl/YaBB.pl There is a lot of humor, support, tons of tips and tricks and suggestions of products that might help make your ostomy life better. Not everyone on there has cancer but some do. I can totally relate to your complaint about gas. My gas has decreased some since surgery, but it still is there and makes the bag more awkward and noticeable : ( I ordered some gas vents to try. Some people like them a lot, but othere say they get clogged. I also heard that some people use a two-piece system and that they pop it open to vent gas. I, personally, was told not to do this as you could get stool in the seal which would make it more likely to leak or smell - but lots of people do this and swear by it. These are a couple of examples of many little tips and tricks you can read about on Shaz's that may help.

I am so sorry to hear about you CT scan result scare. I myself have liver mets. I hope your's is nothing. But there is hope if does turn out to be liver mets. I am having liver re-section in January to remove my entire left lobe of my liver where my mets are. There is also other options including hepatic port chemo and I read that some places are trying focused radiation on the liver mets with much sucess.

And then there is also nutrition. I have personally been having a hard time with nutrition since my surgery. I lost a lot weight because of blockages. So for a while there I was just trying to eat anything that sounded good and would give me some calories and protein. I am trying to get motivated to start juicing again. It is hard though being a life long veggie hater....ugh it makes me gag. Emily and Scouty's testimonials are pretty powerful, though. I'm going to try to get back into it.

Well I hope some of the long post has been useful to you. Take care, you are in our thoughts.

Maria

possible liver mets

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