re: Need your help for friend recovering from surgery

musiclover
musiclover Member Posts: 242
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My friend is in the hospital trying to recover from a very invasive rectal surgery. He's weak and in pain as can be expected. They've just informed him he has a spot on his liver. Tests will confirm that on Wednesday. He's beyond depressed. I've told him of the many people's letters I've read on this newsgroup - how encouraging they are and how often I've read of spots being found on the liver and that it is not a death sentence. Can anyone write some words about their experience with this? Success stories would be so welcome right now. This lump is something they found during surgery, is hard but localized. The doctor thought there was a good chance it was cancer and would need to be removed. It it is cancer, that would make him stage IV. I'd love to take some of your letters with me to him today during my visit. I know that would help calm his nerves. He's got tubes all over him and seems to be terrified. He doesn't scare easily so I know he's suffering. Thanks for any support!

Comments

  • fedester
    fedester Member Posts: 753 Member
    hi musiclover,
    what you said is true it is not a death sentence. there many stage 4 survivors on this site, i myself a stage 2 survivor 5/04. i am sure you will have alot of survivors replying to your message. i would say the real thing that helped myself deal with this is a very upbeat attitude.
    all the best
    bruce
  • staceyp
    staceyp Member Posts: 26
    Hi,

    My husband has stage 4 to the liver just like your friend. It is definitely NOT a death sentence. We went to MD Anderson and Dr. Stephen Curly did a liver resection. He removed 3 small tumors. He got it all! My husband is currently NED (no evidence of disease). He is undergoing chemotherapy to wipe out any other cells that might be floating around. We are extremely optimistic. Tell your friend that there is hope. On my webpage, I posted a picture of my husband the day of his liver resection. Take a look if you like.

    If there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I know how scary this is. Best wishes,

    Stacey
  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    Hi, First of all, how brave he is to have the surgery...I had my rectum and sygmoid colon removed last May, and was in the hospital for 7 days. My initial CT scan showed spots on the liver that continue to be there (I since then have been diagnosed with breast cancer-unrelated, so I get scanned every so often). The final from the scans and when the surgeon looked last May said no problems. The big thing is DONT panic. Wait until the tests come back. I know that's hard, but he doesn't need to be thinking about what stage right now, just getting better from the surgery. I remember the day I had my first movement after surgery...I told everyone and was so proud, almost like a 2 year old! So, I'll tell you a story that's funny. I had my surgery in a teaching hospital, and had a hysterectomy at the same time. This meant 2 different sets of doctors on rounds each day...I got very used to lowering my sheets, raising my gown so that my incision could be examined. So, a young man in scrubs came in, made eye contact, and I started my routine. A very upset look appeared on his face and he said "No No No, I just here to clean bathroom!!!!" My nurse and I laughed about this for hours!!!! Tell him to keep as much humor as possible, it got me through 3 major surgeries (my colon cancer had a 37% rate of survival), 4 chemotherapies (between breast and colon) and 1 going on 2 sets of radiation. This all in a year.
  • shmurciakova
    shmurciakova Member Posts: 906 Member
    Hi There! and Hi Stacey. I am also a patient of Dr. Curley! I had a liver resection for one met (lesion) in 2003. I have not had any more problems w/ my liver since then. I can tell you that this is not an easy experience to go through but I am sure the surgeon will give him some positive feedback. The good news is that there is only one spot and that it can be surgically removed. He has a good chance for a cure! Besides he was gonna have to have chemo anyway, right? So it is so awesome that they found the spot when they did. As for me, I had been diagnosed a year earlier and had one round of chemo and then they found the spot like one month after I got done, so I had to start the whole process all over again! That really sucked. This way he can just get it all overwith much faster! Tell him that....Anyway, maybe he should go to a major cancer center to have this liver surgery...
    Dr. Curley is great if you can get a referral to him. He is also very positive and does not throw around depressing statistics...
    So here is one success story you can tell him about. I have been NED for over a year now and have not had anything "pop up" in almost 2 years. Also, another good thing is that the liver nodule is not a "recurrence", it is something that is from the original diagnosis, so I believe that indicates a more positive scenario...
    It is hard to deal with but he's lucky to have you to help him!
    Good luck
    Susan.
  • glimmerofhope
    glimmerofhope Member Posts: 53 Member
    I'm no Dr, but I have way more experience with dealing with metastatic colon cancer than I ever cared to have.

    It's only normal to get down when dealing with this disease, especially when you feel bad from surgery or chemo. I would advise against any mood elevating drugs since this is just more toxins that your body (liver) has to process (unless extremely depressed). I am one who has personally been told cancer had returned to my liver (by a Harvard (or was it Yale?) trained oncologist at Duke, due to a large indication on a CAT scan, when it turned out to be an abcess...not good, but then again, not cancer.

    RULE OF THUMB: I have read that CAT scans are about 40% accurate in detecting cancer and PET scans are about 90% accurate....my experience (many tests) bears that out.

    I have had 10" of my colon removed, 1/2 of liver removed at Duke Hospital, and thoroscopic surgery on both lungs over the last 3+ years. I still show "multiple" cancer nodules in both my lungs, but it hasn't grown any for the last 6 months while taking ammonium tetrathiomolybdate (TM), Avastin, and low doses of 5FU .

    I was given 2 years to live initially, and 6 months to live 18 months ago.

    Not too rosy a picture, BUT....
    yesterday, I returned from a cruise to Belize, Costa Maya, etc. and went SNUBA diving for the first time in Grand Cayman, climbed the rock wall on the ship, rode the zip line and went cave tubing in Belize. I won the ship's free throw competition, came in 2nd in ping-pong, and won every game of beach volleyball played. I feel almost normal these days.

    I would tell your friend that you CAN have many good days ahead...I'm proof of that...I also expect that, like me, he will APPRECIATE them much more than ever before, too!

    I would recommend that he get a lot of exercise as soon as he is able. I run a little over a mile every other day...this helps me feel better physically, and (maybe more importantly), mentally. I eat very little processed sugar, no margarine, no alcohol or soft drinks (miss these amazingly little). I eat some red meat, but not much.

    Hope this helps.
  • Nicola0821
    Nicola0821 Member Posts: 7
    Hi musiclover,
    The exact same thing happened to my dad..he had the cancer removed from his colon and they told him there was a "spot" on his liver. Well they did biopsy it and the spot was cancer. However, my dad had his liver resected and the cancer was removed. It's a long battle but you have to be positive..tell your friend there are so many new options out for cancer that spreads to the liver. Always seek a second opinion!!! Very important. What you can do to help your friend is research his options, be there when he meets with his doctors. If you have any questions about my dads treatment, his liver surgery etc please ask. I hope this helps.

    -Nicole
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member
    Dear Musiclover:

    Your friend is so lucky to have you as a friend!

    I am a new semi-colon myself (Stage II, dx on 12/26/05). I went through all the shades of grey and blue myself but then amazingly I came to a conclusion: I did choose cancer, but I have many other choices for the rest of my life.

    To make good choices I have to be informed. My wonderful CSN family on this site helped me to locate many books and information on cc. The more I read, the less scared I am. The fact is - our bodies want to heal and can heal given the right treatment, nutrition, care, spiritual support etc.

    There are so many inspirational tales of healing our there. The best I think you can do right now is to help your friend to believe again, in health and healing. You need to turn him from a cancer victim to a fighter.

    The definitively best book I've read so far on healing is Dr. Andrew Weil's book title Spontaneous Healing. Get your friend this book and I hope it will inpire him as much as it did for me. Another good book is Lance Armstrong's Book "It's Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life".

    Once your friend gets past the depression, denial etc, he can then look into the whole world of information out there on nutrition, ways he can prepare his body for the fight. I'll be happy to send you pointers to those.

    Let your friend know that all of us on the site are in the fight with him. He's not alone.

    Cheers,
    JADot
  • musiclover
    musiclover Member Posts: 242
    JADot said:

    Dear Musiclover:

    Your friend is so lucky to have you as a friend!

    I am a new semi-colon myself (Stage II, dx on 12/26/05). I went through all the shades of grey and blue myself but then amazingly I came to a conclusion: I did choose cancer, but I have many other choices for the rest of my life.

    To make good choices I have to be informed. My wonderful CSN family on this site helped me to locate many books and information on cc. The more I read, the less scared I am. The fact is - our bodies want to heal and can heal given the right treatment, nutrition, care, spiritual support etc.

    There are so many inspirational tales of healing our there. The best I think you can do right now is to help your friend to believe again, in health and healing. You need to turn him from a cancer victim to a fighter.

    The definitively best book I've read so far on healing is Dr. Andrew Weil's book title Spontaneous Healing. Get your friend this book and I hope it will inpire him as much as it did for me. Another good book is Lance Armstrong's Book "It's Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life".

    Once your friend gets past the depression, denial etc, he can then look into the whole world of information out there on nutrition, ways he can prepare his body for the fight. I'll be happy to send you pointers to those.

    Let your friend know that all of us on the site are in the fight with him. He's not alone.

    Cheers,
    JADot

    These posts have been enormously helpful. My friend is lying in a hospital bed, sick from surgery, unable to read, watch TV or do much else but worry and it has been hugely beneficial for him to hear these stories from all of you. You are doing a great thing by sharing your experiences. A million thanks!