My dad gets his PET scan result Monday.

LivingFaith
LivingFaith Member Posts: 74
edited March 2014 in Esophageal Cancer #1
My dad, Ec 4 mets to the liver, was diagnosed in mid July. This was his first scan since starting chemo. He will get the results on Monday at his oncology appt and is scheduled for chemo. I'm having a little "scanxiety" but not too much. When he had his stent put in 3 weeks ago the surgeon told him the tumor was larger than it was in July.

My question. If the tumor has spread or they find more mets, when do they try a different chemo? He has had two rounds with Monday to be his third. How long does it take before they judge respose rate? If in the last 8 weeks the tumor is bigger wouldn't that mean they need to try something new? I won't be at the appt so I want to give my mom some questions to ask.

Another question. Since the stent he has felt like H@%%. He throws up a lot. He got the stent just a few days after finishing chemo so it's hard to tell if it is the stent or the chemo making him feel so bad. It seems he may had one day that he is feeling good then several days in a row where he feels terrible. He tries to say that he must have caught the flu or something-um dad the something is CANCER. Did any of you experience this? One day good then several "flu" days? These are happening on his off weeks of chemo. He chemo for 5 days via infusion and then fanny pack, with 3 weeks in between. He feels worse on his off weeks than during the infusion week. How could that be? Does this mean he is getting worse?

Thanks....Deb

Comments

  • Tina Blondek
    Tina Blondek Member Posts: 1,500 Member
    #2
    Hello Deb and Dad
    I will be
    Hello Deb and Dad
    I will be thinking of you and praying for a good scan result on Monday. Sorry he is having such trouble with the stent. My dad was lucky with his. Sometimes there is also scar tissue built up, and like the dr. said unfortunately the tumor is larger. I would think that if this chemo did not work at shrinking the tumor they would try another one. My dad had great success with the oral chemo xeloda. Once my dad's cancer went to his liver, he got much worse and passed away. He did get the esophageal cancer to go into remission for one year though. Let us know how you make out on Monday. Remember this is a trial and error and live and learn journey!
    Tina
  • LivingFaith
    LivingFaith Member Posts: 74
    #3
    Tina Blondek said:

    Hello Deb and Dad
    I will be
    Hello Deb and Dad
    I will be thinking of you and praying for a good scan result on Monday. Sorry he is having such trouble with the stent. My dad was lucky with his. Sometimes there is also scar tissue built up, and like the dr. said unfortunately the tumor is larger. I would think that if this chemo did not work at shrinking the tumor they would try another one. My dad had great success with the oral chemo xeloda. Once my dad's cancer went to his liver, he got much worse and passed away. He did get the esophageal cancer to go into remission for one year though. Let us know how you make out on Monday. Remember this is a trial and error and live and learn journey!
    Tina

    I am concerned about his
    I am concerned about his liver too. On his first scan he only had one small hot spot on his liver. If there are more spots or mets to someplace else then I would think they need to try something else. The surgeon told my mom that the liver is what we really need to worry about as that is more serious.
  • sal314
    sal314 Member Posts: 599 Member
    #4
    Just My Thoughts...
    Good luck with the scans on Monday. Please keep us posted.

    As far as feeling bad, I definately think it's the chemo. It effects people differently. Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks to work thorugh one's system. My father (who sounds similar to yours, stage 4 with liver mets) didn't feel lousy until about 4 or 5 days after chemo. He only had 4 or 5 rounds then they stopped because his blood counts go so low that continuing would have killed him. Yet, he feels great now and the tumors have not grown. My dad has gotten scans about 6 to 8 weeks out after chemo to see if it's been effective.

    Not sure this is helpful, but that's how it's been with my dad.

    Blessings,
    Sally
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