Recurrence after almost 10 years NED - came back with a vengeance!

Idaho83833
Idaho83833 Member Posts: 5 Member

Hi,

Well been a while since I have been on this board.  My husband was diagnosed with stage II colon cancer back in Sept 2009.  Had surgery and was NED ever since.   Well during just a routine annual Xray guess its back in full force.  They found liver mets and mets in the periitneal and also he has some ascites.    He was felling GREAT!  Totally caught us off guard!!

Well actually he had a heart attack last August 2018 and was in ICU for 2 weeks recovering....  he did great..  had tons of Xrays the whole time,complete blood tests and then 4 month later (Deceomber 2018) had a full CT scan.   Nope no mention of any cancer anywhere or anything wrong on any scans or blood test.   He goes in for an annual lung xray (4 months after his last CT scan) and radiogist noted liver did not look right and mentioned possible cirhosis.  Well he doesn't drink enough for cirhossis... so a full CT scan was ordered and wha la - 2 mets to liver, and multiple mets to many to count to peritoneal of abdomen with ascites!!!!!!!   Came back this stong in only 4 MONTHS - actually sounds like all his other Xrays were not read correctly from 2018 until now and the cancer was missed.   Unless cancer can develope that quickly.   His largest tumor in peritonael is 3.5 CM so almost an inch and a half that big in about 4 months???   I didn't think they grew that fast maybe we are wrong and they do grow that fast.  Personally I think the cancer had been missed in all the previous xrays in the last 9 months which he has had multiple. 

Give us a break I mean poor guy fights so hard to survive a heart attack and triple bypass with valve replacement only to be told 8 months later your colon cancer has come back after almost 10 years and now you have to go through all of this to try and live a bit longer!!!!   Life sucks sometimes!!!!

He said he would have prefered to not of survived the heart attack.

Can't say that I blame him!

Supposedly peritoneal matessis is 2nd most common place after the liver in colon cancer patients.  Well if this is hte case how come peritoneal hardly EVER gets mentioned in this colon cancer forum or anywhere on the internet for that matter.   It can't be that common.  

Anyone else with any stories of their own and a late stage reocurrence to the pertineal?  Do we have any hope to grasp on to?

 

Thank you,

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,796 Member
    There is always hope

    I am so sorry to read this.  It must be so hard to have a recurrance after so long. 

    I know there have been members here, who have had their Cancer spread to the peritoneal, and I hope they will pop on soon and share their wealth of information.  

    I would also have to wonder about so much spread of Cancer in such a short time. I hope you can get some answers about that.  It all seems very odd. 

    Wishing both of you the best. 

    Tru

  • Idaho83833
    Idaho83833 Member Posts: 5 Member
    Thank you..

    Yeah I hope some other chim in.. about peritoneal and yes it does seem a bit fishy.   We are pretty sure the cancer was just missed during all his other xrays and scans over the last 9 months.   No other reason but noting can be done about that even if it was missed I'm sure no one is going to admit to missing anything.   It is what it is now no sense about stewing over it.. and that is what we have to deal with. 

  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    I'm so sorry

    I'm so sorry and it's got to be hard after all these years.  Hopefully they can give him something to help combat this issue and get him to full recovery again. 

    Kim

  • Idaho83833
    Idaho83833 Member Posts: 5 Member
    edited May 2019 #5
    I should add that all my

    I should add that all my husbands colonoscopies even the last one he had done about 6 weeks ago came back all clear.   He was put on the 5 year list to come back for his next one. 

  • JanJan63
    JanJan63 Member Posts: 2,478 Member
    Oh wow, what a blow! I'm so

    Oh wow, what a blow! I'm so sorry for this. I have to ask, what are ascites? I don't think I've heard that term before. I know nothing about recurrance in the peritoneum. I agree that nobody seems to talk about that.

    Jan

  • Idaho83833
    Idaho83833 Member Posts: 5 Member
    JanJan63 said:

    Oh wow, what a blow! I'm so

    Oh wow, what a blow! I'm so sorry for this. I have to ask, what are ascites? I don't think I've heard that term before. I know nothing about recurrance in the peritoneum. I agree that nobody seems to talk about that.

    Jan

    Ascites = Fluid build up in

    Ascites = Fluid build up in Abdomen - When the petrineal has cancer cells/tumors it sometimes irritates the lining of the abdomen which in return the body will produce extra fluid.  Kind of like someone who has cirrhosis from drinking to much alcohol (beer belly) the abdomen extends because of the fluid.  Hubby has had it drained about a week ago they removed half gallon.  It will come back and need to be drained again but it does make him more comfortable after draining.   Of course not everyone gets it -rare just like petrineal invasion.   Everythign is stacking up against him!   We will be meeting onocolgist hopefully in the next week or so to go over treatment options (if any) are availble for him.

    With him having open heart surgery about 8 months ago his body is still healing from that sooooo.... whos know what they can do for him if anything.  We have to wait and see. 

     

  • Butt
    Butt Member Posts: 352 Member

    Oncologist most likely will offer chemo. You want to see a surgical oncologist. They do liver resection and HIPEC surgery and it may be way to go. Butt.

  • Idaho83833
    Idaho83833 Member Posts: 5 Member
    Butt said:

    Oncologist most likely will offer chemo. You want to see a surgical oncologist. They do liver resection and HIPEC surgery and it may be way to go. Butt.

    Yeah - he is going to a

    Yeah - he is going to a cancer treatment center that does surgeries also ..   I have read up on the surgery and HIPEC.  Although since he has pertrieon involved the surgery is quite advasive and they only select certain paitients who they think will benifit from it and are very healthy shape.  My hubby is only 8 monhts from major heart surgery so not sure if they will consider him fit enough.   Peritonal surgery they have to skim off part of the petritneal lining any that is effected with cancer along with liver resection and then HIPEC also at the same time.  I think it is called cytoreductive surgery + HIPEC.   It last about 10--12 hours long and even then reocurrence is high according to Dr. Google.  Sometimes i hate searching on the internet for answers or hope as most everything is so negative.. I try to stay away from doing it but I seem to end up doing it anyways.    Cry  Won't know anything until we are able to sit down and talk to a doctor (surgeon) in specifics about his case.   

     

    Peritionel cancer - alot of women get it with ovarian cancer.  It is not common in men "except" as a secondary matasis spot for colon cancer.