man, this disease is frustrating...after 4th chemo, mom is feeling ok, but...sharp liver pains

marc24
marc24 Member Posts: 92
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
ok so i havent gotten on...basically the last 4 chemos have been pretty good, she has a 4-5 day down time then like 1 1/2 week of awesome energy...today, i had some time to take my mind off these things, i get home, asked mom what happened..and she is feeling sharp pains on the left of her stomach..basically around the liver area...her 5th chemo is coming up...I DONT WANT TO PANIC AGAIN..but its hard cuz literally it has been a good 3 weeks, no symptoms, nothing! she was feeling great!, then today, pain..and i want it to just go away...SO IS SHARP PAIN (5 OF 10 PAIN SCALE) = CANCER SPREADING? CHEMO WORKING (EVEN THOUGH ITS BEEN A WEEK WHEN IT WAS ADMINISTERED?) OR SOMETHING ELSE? Any thoughts..and also

Why does my mom only have 5 chemo treatments and a longer break? she was gonna meet with onco on july 6th, then what?

Comments

  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #2
    Surgery
    Has she had any surgeries? I am not sure what you are asking regarding the chemo break, maybe I missed a previous post, sorry that I can't help much.
  • marc24
    marc24 Member Posts: 92
    #3
    Nana b said:

    Surgery
    Has she had any surgeries? I am not sure what you are asking regarding the chemo break, maybe I missed a previous post, sorry that I can't help much.

    hello...no she was not a candidate for surgery..
    basically, her treatment option was just chemo cuz it has spread throughout her liver...the weird thing is the chemo ( i feel) is working? since the last 4-8 weeks, she is feeling fantastic, granted the chemo period was terrible, the bounce back days are, i would say, better than the days before she was diagnosed, no symptoms...just today, she started having liver/stomach pains again, like left side, so i dunno what this is about, and the break was because i guesss doc decided to take a long weekend, and moved her meeting with onco from june 30 to july 7th, thats like 3 - 4 weeks after her 5th chemo, but i guess they want to see if its working?? really not sure..i figure some of u guys have experience on this
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #4
    marc24 said:

    hello...no she was not a candidate for surgery..
    basically, her treatment option was just chemo cuz it has spread throughout her liver...the weird thing is the chemo ( i feel) is working? since the last 4-8 weeks, she is feeling fantastic, granted the chemo period was terrible, the bounce back days are, i would say, better than the days before she was diagnosed, no symptoms...just today, she started having liver/stomach pains again, like left side, so i dunno what this is about, and the break was because i guesss doc decided to take a long weekend, and moved her meeting with onco from june 30 to july 7th, thats like 3 - 4 weeks after her 5th chemo, but i guess they want to see if its working?? really not sure..i figure some of u guys have experience on this

    marc....
    Now and again, I do have some liver pain on my left side there, I have a tumor in it, and my doctor said there would be flareups there, because the chemo is killing the cancer, it is also the avastin I'm taking which is cutting off the blood supply to the tumor, just strangling it, so it's good she's getting the chemo, because it's working then. Does she not take anything for the pain of it?? I am on Morphine and Oxycotin, and even take Motrins along with it, and feel alittle better, since the pain is on and off, I have it for one day, and the next few hours it's gone, it will come back and so on, it doesn't stay too long though, but just think of it as healing it, it's doing it's job, she should be taking something for her pain though.
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #5
    I had liver pain during chemo
    Hi Marc,

    I had no pain in my liver before chemo even though they saw "at least" 12 tumors in my liver upon diagnosis. I did experience horrible pain in my liver during the first three chemo treatments. It was so bad that, had the onc not told me he thought it was the chemo working on the liver tumors, well, I would have gone into the E.R. It was bad enough that I could barely breathe, walk, or drive the car over any little bump and I wanted to scream. It was that bad. Then, it mysteriously went away. Within a few days of it going away is when I had my scheduled first CT (after the first 3 treatments of Folfox). I was down to just 3 visible liver tumors! It must have been the chemo eating up those other tumors! I never experienced that pain again after that. Not sure if your mom is having the same thing happen or not, but that was my experience. I don't think my onc thought it was a very common experience (feeling pain from the chemo working on the tumors).

    I'm glad to hear your mom is feeling better, overall- I bet that chemo's shrinking her tumors!

    God bless,
    Lisa
  • polarprincess
    polarprincess Member Posts: 202 Member
    #6
    lisa42 said:

    I had liver pain during chemo
    Hi Marc,

    I had no pain in my liver before chemo even though they saw "at least" 12 tumors in my liver upon diagnosis. I did experience horrible pain in my liver during the first three chemo treatments. It was so bad that, had the onc not told me he thought it was the chemo working on the liver tumors, well, I would have gone into the E.R. It was bad enough that I could barely breathe, walk, or drive the car over any little bump and I wanted to scream. It was that bad. Then, it mysteriously went away. Within a few days of it going away is when I had my scheduled first CT (after the first 3 treatments of Folfox). I was down to just 3 visible liver tumors! It must have been the chemo eating up those other tumors! I never experienced that pain again after that. Not sure if your mom is having the same thing happen or not, but that was my experience. I don't think my onc thought it was a very common experience (feeling pain from the chemo working on the tumors).

    I'm glad to hear your mom is feeling better, overall- I bet that chemo's shrinking her tumors!

    God bless,
    Lisa

    confused
    everyone is commenting on their liver pain being left sided. I am confused about this because the liver is not on the left side of the body.. it is on the right... so does the pain typically radiate to the left side??
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #7
    polarprincess said:

    confused
    everyone is commenting on their liver pain being left sided. I am confused about this because the liver is not on the left side of the body.. it is on the right... so does the pain typically radiate to the left side??

    liver pain on the right side
    Re. "everyone is commenting on their liver pain being left sided", well my liver pain was on my righ side, right under the rib cage. You said the liver is "on the right". Some of the liver is on the left side, although most of it is on the right side. I don't know about what everyone else was referring to, but my pain was definitely only on my right side.
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #8
    lisa42 said:

    liver pain on the right side
    Re. "everyone is commenting on their liver pain being left sided", well my liver pain was on my righ side, right under the rib cage. You said the liver is "on the right". Some of the liver is on the left side, although most of it is on the right side. I don't know about what everyone else was referring to, but my pain was definitely only on my right side.

    oh...
    I can have pain come from both sides, but Dr. said not to worry about those, and I need to take an anatomy class or something, I thought the liver was on the left side too lol...but my pain was MOSTLY left-sided.
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #9
    polarprincess said:

    confused
    everyone is commenting on their liver pain being left sided. I am confused about this because the liver is not on the left side of the body.. it is on the right... so does the pain typically radiate to the left side??

    Hi, Polarprincess
    Liver is located on the right side, underneath the rib cage. I can assure you of this, because I've got a huge scar from the surgery that tells me this.

    I had pain before surgery, was probably the tumor.

    I still get pain there 18 months later, probably all of the scar tissue from the surgery and the massive incision when the opened me up.
  • marc24
    marc24 Member Posts: 92
    #10
    hello..sorry for the confusion.
    Hi..my mom just finished her 5th chemo last monday, its amazing how time goes by, it felt like i JUST joined this forum yesterday, but its been 3 months...anywho..

    Yes, my mom was describing left-side pain and I do know the liver is mostly going to the right, but I think there is a top lobe of the liver that is technically around the left side/near the middle of the stomach area...so im really not sure now what is bothering her. The nurse states, it might be the drugs side effect or the cancer cells reacting to the drug, or other reasons..so right now, im hoping she gets better since she has a wedding to attend in 3 weeks....5th chemo done, and a nice break for her since onco wants to check progress and want to to tests first before continuing further


    Wish her luck!! and GO LAKERS!

Discussion Boards