Postby FightMode » Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:10 pm
Hi All,
I just wanted to share with you yet another good news story made possible by Dr. Kemeny as well as the wonderful surgery team at MSKCC. My Dad who was diagnosed with multiple scattered inoperable liver mets in Dec. (following a misdiagnosis of "only" stage II CRC several months prior) had ALL visible tumors resected from his liver yesterday. It was an 8 hour surgery in which they also removed his primary. His surgeons were Drs. DeMatteo and Garcia-Aguilar. He had the HAI pump installed in April after a few rounds of FOLFOX did nothing to get him resectable. For 4 months he had systemic infusions of FOLFIRI every couple of weeks with just a few infusions of FUDR in his HAI pump (due the the jump in liver enzymes from the FUDR he didn't get full doses each month). But in just 4 months Dr. K got the the team together to review his case again after seeing wonderful results on the scans and they deemed him operable! That was less than a month ago, and now he's recovering on the 15th floor.
I thought it was important to post this note for everybody because without the Colon Club and a lot of research and persistence by our family, we simply wouldn't be here (and by here I mean physically here in NYC or here in the greater sense of his much improved prognosis). I am certainly frustrated that other major cancer centers seem resistant to implementing protocols similar to Dr. K's; not only are the data quite strong, but we witnessed first hand what this pump did and will continue to do for my Dad. We feel lucky that we got here early in the course of his treatment, but a bit shocked that had we not pushed for this early it probably never would have happened. As I understand it, the HAI pump works best when used before other cocktails have failed. The people on this board have been an invaluable resource for me in understanding all of this, and I'm still a newbie but certainly happy to answer any questions I can for others.
-E
Daughter of Dad (age 61) with CRC
8/12 misdiagnosed 2a, 12/12 diagnosed stage IV liver mets
4 rounds FOLFOX/Avastin
4/13 HAI Pump Installed at MSKCC, FOLFIRI/FUDR
9/10/13 Liver/Primary Resection - NED
2/14 Stopped Chemo, 4/14 Reversal