Can primary progress while liver/lungs tumors are shrinking?

[crazymotherof8]

Matt has been worried this past week that the primary colon tumor is growing. He had blood in the stool once a few weeks ago and now his stools are flat like before dx and he feels bloated with a lot of gas. He is taking Mirlax 2X a day so is not constipated. Last scan at end of Dec. showed good shrinkage of tumors in liver and lungs and last blood work had CEA to 1.6. I am just wondering if it is possible for the primary tumor to grow if everything else is responding well to Xelox?? I plan to call the dr on Monday but any experiences or knowledge about this might put his mind at rest.
Thanks everyone!!!
Niki

[SkiFletch]

Unfortunately anything is POSSIBLE with cancer, but progression of the primary with regression of the mets is very rare. The opposite (progression of mets, regression of primary) is very common because the mets represent cellular lines with more mutations and thus increasing likelihood of resistance to treatment. You're very right to talk to the Dr about this. It could very well be that the primary is dying rapidly and the resulting tissue fibrosis is constricting and for lack of a better term "angering" the colon. None of us yahoos on an internet forum are going to be able to know the answer though, so call the doc and be as detailed as possible in your conversations

[hannahw]

Could be partial obstruction. Abdominal surgery leaves adhesions - scar tissue - that can cause the intestines, which are otherwise free-floating, to stick and twist which makes it harder to pass gas and stool. Often this sort of thing will clear up on its own. Good idea to put in a call to the doctor and get some answers. Try not to imagine the worst. It's probably not that.

[Ivona]

Good point about adhesions and scar tissue. I have that....and it causes my BM's to be all over the map.....
Sometimes they're normal, othertimes they are thin, noodle-like...and sometimes I'm downright constipated with little rabbit poops. Welcome to the ''new normal". Mention this to the doc to get it checked out tho!

[crazymotherof8]

Matt did not have a resection to remove the primary, his liver was so full of tumors that chemo was started ASAP! He had a colonscopy after 3 months of treatments to see if Avastin could be started and the primary had shrunk to almost nothing. That is why this is so puzzling..... Maybe it is time to do another colonscopy??? It has been 8 months since the last one.
Niki

[seva]

Sorry to hear that Matt is stressed out. I don't blame him. Maybe you need another scan. CT or PET.