Hi Everyone,
I'm a new member. My step-brother was recently diagnosed with stage IV cc. He's 30 years old. It's spread to his liver and lungs. He just started on chemo last week (oxaliplatin and 5FU). He will get chemo once every two weeks. The dr said on the third round, he will add Avastin.
I've read through the posts on here and also surfed the web. It seems like surgery for liver resection greatly increases the chances of NED. I went with my step-brother to see his oncologist yesterday. The dr said surgery is not an option right now because there are so many tumors in his liver and they are growing rapidly. The only thing to do at this moment is wait to see if the chemo will shrink the tumors. He said the goal is to keep my step-brother as comfortable as possible and alive for as long as possible. He said if the tumors shrink with chemo, maybe they will consider surgery.
Has anyone here with stage IV cc or knows someone with stage IV cc that has mets to the liver been told the same thing but went somewhere else that did perform surgery? I know each patient has a different situation which is unique. I just want to collect a general understanding of others' experiences. Should we just accept what the dr is saying or should we proatively be looking elsewhere for more aggressive treatment? I suppose waiting for a few more rounds of chemo to see what happens sounds logical?
Thanks for any thoughts you have.
~jetlex