Great NEWS

I have not posted in a while but some of you may remember me. My husband was dx 8/24/06 with stage IV colorectal cancer with mets to liver, had surgery on 9/15/06 to remove the cancer and he got his colostomy. Then followed by two plus years of chemo..every kind. In 12/08 oncologist told us there was nothing more they could do for Frank. Chemo was not working. He had been told at the beginning of his diagnosis liver was inoperable and with chemo he might have two years. In 12/08 they sent us to Vanderbilt in Nashville to meet with a Dr Laura Goff for the possiblity of a clinical trial. We met with her on the 12/29/08 and she said that she thought all Frank would qualify for would be Stage 1 which is the experimental trial which is first being tested on humans. It has been tested on human cells in the lab. We went home not excited but at least there was something to try. A week or so later we got a call from Dr Goff and she told us that she had carried Frank's case before the board of doctors and they thought that he was indeed a candidate for liver surgery. She made us an appt with a Liver surgeon and we went back to Nashville to meet with him. He said YES we can do liver surgery but you have a lump in your lung which we already knew but our own oncologist had told us that the liver cancer would kill Frank before the lung cancer would. So we were then sent to a lung surgeon, he told my husband Frank that he could do the lung surgery but he would have to quit smoking before he would do the surgery. That was on Jan 15, 2009 and Frank quit smoking that very night. Two weeks later we were back in Nashville and the lung surgeon scheduled lung surgery for Feb. We were told they would have to take 1/2 of his right lung out but only had to remove 4% of his lung. Recovered for a few months and then liver surgery was scheduled for the end of April. During all this his CEA went up to over 16,000.00. They did the liver surgery and removed 75% of the right lobe of his liver along with the cancer that had now grown and attached to his sternam. His CEA went down to the 200's. In July we returned for a recheck and CT scan was clear but CEA was still 39.6. Today he had another CT scan and another CEA. He then had an appt with the liver surgeon, Dr
Alexander Parikh, who told us the CT was clear and Frank's CEA was now 3.5. The doctor was amazed and so were we. Sorry for this being so very long and repeating alot if you have read us in the past but I just wanted to share with you that there is HOPE...never ever give us..continue to fight and get second or third opinions. We are so truly blessed and thankful !!