Advice Please!

Erinb
Erinb Member Posts: 293
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My husband has stage four cancer with liver mets. After undergoing a port embolism, a colon and liver resection, partial ablation and 12 rounds of FOLFOX I have coflicting information. In Jan he completed his last round of Chemo.
PET scan 1/22 All clear
CT 1/24 CEA .8 All Clear
and CT 4/16 CEA 4 ??

According to his surgeon at the Liver Cancer Center in Pittsburgh my husband's scan looked good and he was pleased with it. He also assured me that he reads thousands of them and mm in change is from the cut in the scan not growth. Some areas have actually shrunk.

The oncologist read the report (not the scan) and the spot doubled in size from 7mm to 1.6cm.

Chris gets scanned here in Lima and I send everything to his surgeon in PA. Our oncologist is here in Lima as well.

Anyway, after meeting with the Oncologist, he thought it was best if Chris started Folfiri and Erbitus. Now I am wondering is this needed? We are both working full-time and he feels miserable on Chemo. It isn't good for your healthy cells!

On the other hand if it is growing we need to stop it now. I wish I could read scans. In the mean time I think I'll send everything to James and get another opinion. What would you guys do? Thanks

Comments

  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #2
    A Couple of Thoughts...
    Hi Erin

    If I'm seeing your numbers right, it looks like his scans were 3 months apart. And during that time his CEA went from .8 to a 4?

    A reading of 4 is still within normal ranges:
    0-3 for nonsmoker
    3-6 for smoker

    Also during that time, the spot looks to have doubled, I'm assuming in the same 3 months?

    A couple of thoughts, but you've already answered one of them yourself - getting a 2nd opinion. Not going to hurt anything and will let you know if both parties agree on the protocol suggested or not.

    Chemo could certainly be an option - or they could wait another two or three months, and re-scan and check the growth of the spot again - if it continues to double in size or grow rapidly, this would need to be addressed.

    I think you're on the right path, get your 2nd opinion and then weight it all again.

    I am wondering though if they could not just attack the new spot surgically or with RFA again, instead of re-introducing chemo. The spot is about the size of your pinky's fingernail, so chemo could indeed shrink it - but I'm from the school of eradication - surgical removal gives us a better chance at removal.

    Perhaps you could talk to your liver surgeon about this - and/or get another opinion here as well.

    I know it's always tough to know what is the right decision - but gathering information is a great first step in looking at the whole picture again.

    Please post what you find out. Take care this Sunday morning.

    -Craig
  • Erinb
    Erinb Member Posts: 293
    #3
    Sundanceh said:

    A Couple of Thoughts...
    Hi Erin

    If I'm seeing your numbers right, it looks like his scans were 3 months apart. And during that time his CEA went from .8 to a 4?

    A reading of 4 is still within normal ranges:
    0-3 for nonsmoker
    3-6 for smoker

    Also during that time, the spot looks to have doubled, I'm assuming in the same 3 months?

    A couple of thoughts, but you've already answered one of them yourself - getting a 2nd opinion. Not going to hurt anything and will let you know if both parties agree on the protocol suggested or not.

    Chemo could certainly be an option - or they could wait another two or three months, and re-scan and check the growth of the spot again - if it continues to double in size or grow rapidly, this would need to be addressed.

    I think you're on the right path, get your 2nd opinion and then weight it all again.

    I am wondering though if they could not just attack the new spot surgically or with RFA again, instead of re-introducing chemo. The spot is about the size of your pinky's fingernail, so chemo could indeed shrink it - but I'm from the school of eradication - surgical removal gives us a better chance at removal.

    Perhaps you could talk to your liver surgeon about this - and/or get another opinion here as well.

    I know it's always tough to know what is the right decision - but gathering information is a great first step in looking at the whole picture again.

    Please post what you find out. Take care this Sunday morning.

    -Craig

    Thanks Craig!
    When I spoke
    Thanks Craig!
    When I spoke to the liver surgeon, he said there wasn't any growth and disagrees with the transcriptionist. That is why I am confused. RFA isn't an option right now because he thinks my husband's scan looks good. Hopefully it really is fine, and he will only be on Chemo another 3 months and all will be clear. I'm just venting. Originally thinking it's doubled and growing just after two months off of chemo and then getting another opinion saying his scan looks good is confusing. It usually takes me a day or two to calm down. Tomorrow I'll call both hospitals and request his scans and reports get sent to James Cancer Center and take it from there.

    By the way, back in October when Chris had his surgery the doctor was open to doing RFA again when and if needed.

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