liver rescection this week

[Carolyn JB]

Well its here already, I leave on Wed to g to the hospital - surgery is on Thurs. I am nervous, scared, terrified - you name it - I am it at this point. I am confident in my surgeon, but I am still nervous! Hopefully it will go smottly and when her gets in there he won't find anything else that is bad news

Carolyn

[missjv]

HI,
WELL KEEP YOUR CHIN UP. IT WILL BE FINE. I DON'T THINK THEY WOULD EVEN ATTEMPT TO DO SURGERY UNLESS YOU WILL BENEFIT FROM IT. LIKE I SAID BEFORE I WAS SORE AFTERWORDS FOR A FEW DAYS BUT IT WAS NOT AS BAD AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE, OF COURSE WE ALL REACT DIFFERENT. ARE YOU GOING BACK ON CHEMO AFTER SURGERY? I JUST FINISHED 12 ROUNDS OF ADJUVENT CHEMO THAT THEY PUT ME ON IN CASE OF MICRO METS THAT WERE NOT SEEN SO I HOPE THEY ARE ZAPPED. GOOD LUCK KEEP US POSTED.


MISSJV

[Carolyn JB]

I will defintiely be back on chemo just not sure which - not sure if I will finish with the folox 6 (i have had 7 rounds) or if they will switch it. I will also need to do chemo/radiation. not sure of the timeline of these things but I will definitely be back on chemo!

Carolyn

[missjv]

hi carolyn,
why radiation? i got my chemo switched i was folfox with avastin before surgery then after i did folfiri without avastin. i hope they are both good i had a great response to the folfox my presurgery pet scan did not light up at all on my liver like it did before i started chemo when first diagnosed. im just glad my chemo is over with for now and hopefully forever but for now is fine with me after 20 rounds and 10 months im over it already.


missjv

[mrogerspink]

My 44 year old husband was diagnosed with stage 1V colon cancer with mets to the liver in April, 2007. We live in Florida. I was wondering where you have had treatment? They re-sected his colon at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa last week. As soon as he recovers, we hope to begin back on chemo.

There has been little talk what happens beyond chemo for the liver. His liver is very involved...he is otherwise healthy with no other medical problems. What can we expect?

[missjv]

hi,
well i had my liver resection at sloan kettering in new york. i went to moffitt and was told my liver lesions were to close to main arteries on liver to do resection. well i didn't accept that and went to sloan and was told that i was an excellent candidate for resection so i had the surgery and so far almost 8 months later my liver has regrown and no signs of cancer i feel great and plan on beating this cancer. please go get another opinion because there are also other options for treating the liver like rfa, cryosurgery, alcohol ablation, sirt spheres. im so glad i did not accept what i was told and went for another opinion because at sloan i am being treated as trying for cure, moffitt wanted to treat me as palliative with no chance of cure and without the surgery i wouldn't have a chance for cure. so go and get another opinion you might be surprised. i wasn't going to stop with opinions until i got one i liked. might sound crazy but im still here among the living, good luck.

missjv

[rthornton]

I asked Carolyn to put me on her email list for surgery updates, and so I just got this email from her husband (and am posting it with his permission):


Well, we showed up at Vandi bright and early to make Carolyn's 6:00 am check-in time. Well, it seems a bunch of people in Nashville couldn't get along as there were five gunshot wounds that delayed Carolyn's surgery until 1:30 in the afternoon.

The procedure took about 3 hours and the results are that they removed the part of the liver with the tumor and got clear margins, they didn't see anything else suspicious and they had no complications other than her requiring a blood transfusion (but it wasn't unusual). Carolyn is now comfortably resting in her room (not ICU as she feared) and I couldn't be happier!!! Everything went as well as possible.

[missjv]

hi,
thanks for the carolyn update that is great news especially the fact nothing else suspicious was found that is very encouraging. she should be able to come home in a few days and hopefully recover quickly and get back to her life.

missjv

[Hold Fast]

Try not to waste too much time dreading what’s next. You’ll risk missing out on the wonderful distraction of otherwise feeling normal. Heal…. Walk, stay hydrated and breath deep… taste the air. Gift yourself a mid-day nap and try to get a full 8 hours of dream filled sleep.

Stage III with bowel resection & chemo in 2005
Stage IV with liver tumor ablation in 2007 (resection was my 1st choice)

Hold Fast