Hipec again

[jillbugs4110]

Hi

Ok cc crew tho I know we beat these subjects into the ground it matters none there is always someone who leads me in a good direction.

I'm confused my surgeon got it i am young in perfect health aside from cancer and i have two very little kids. After hearing over and over from my onc...no surgery for you chemo.only I went to a surgeon to explore HIPEC and RFA....

Two weeks ago I went in and they did a laproscopic surgery to make sure there is nothing in there that they can't see and I was told if they see it they will cut it out of my liver. They went in and.saw a clean liver a small amount of suspicious cells near my colon resection and some floaters closed me and said HIPEC would be a go if I want it and no wedge resection because no tumors right now. So Chemo WAS very effective for me but we all know it's a band aid.

Today saw oncologist she is not a fan of HIPEC she said that it will be hard on me and it won't help I will end up right back where I was gonna be and even if tumors come back on liver she says I need my liver it won't grow back and if it does it won't be healthy so I'm wasting my time.

I'm confused why the surgeon would want to try and she.told him that she felt it was a waste. I see people being treated by top drs here NY, Texas, SAN FRAN AND THEY ARE DOING WHAT THEY CAN....

Do I just stop now may b I feel like I'd I'm not fighting for a alternatives I will just be on chemo and wither away on it.

If anyone has thoughts I welcome them...if u where me??

[KWT]

Jill, it's a chance you have to take, sometimes it doesn't come back, or it may take a long time.

[jillbugs4110]

Kenny

I'm doing the Pisces spin I am a hamster I hate it when my mind goes in circles I guess there is no right choices.

[rwightman]

I can tell you what my surgeon said "surgery can provide a cure, we know for sure that chemo can't".

[lpas]

I can tell you what my surgeon said "surgery can provide a cure, we know for sure that chemo can't".

This is what my surgeon said too. I think you should give it a go.

[Bev G]

Hi. I'm sorry you're in this bind, and not getting consistent answers. One thing I can tell you pretty much for sure (99%) that if you wind up at some point needing a liver resection, the removed portion WILL grow back, and should function normally, unless you have serious liver disease from chemo. HIPEC sounds like a pretty good idea...you got great news from the laparoscopic look.

Best wishes,

Bev

[hummingbird3]

I have been told the same thing, 3 surgeons have said HIPEC .. 3 oncologists have said it is too big a surgery for the small difference in time (which they say I would gain an average of 3 years).

I look at it like this, my surgeon has kept me alive this long, the chemo has held it back some but not enough. I will do HIPEC if it will gain me three years possibly NOT on chemo. The longer I am off chemo, the stronger I get. Then, if I have to fight again .. I will .. and hopefully I will live long enough to be here for the newer tx's coming down the pike every year. And .. there are those who have done well and not recurred after HIPEC .. so there is that.

However, I would not suggest that for everyone. I feel for me it is the right decision due to my age and health .. which is good minus cancer.
Follow your heart .. it is your life .. your body .. and ultimately only your choice.

[Val*pal]

My husband and I looked into HIPEC for him since he had peritoneal mets.

However, he would have had to go elsewhere for HIPEC since his oncologist at the University of Michigan Cancer Center told us that the U of M does not believe HIPEC is effective. In 2012, she said that no rigidly controlled scientific study had been attempted on the efficacy of HIPEC and that the risks were not worth it. Furthermore, she stated that my husband was not likely to be accepted for HIPEC due to the fact that he had other cancer related health issues. Since my husband was 63 at the time of his peritoneal mets diagnosis and had experienced umpteen complications following his colon resection surgery (7.5 weeks in the hospital), he decided not to pursue it. He was terrified of more surgery, and I did not blame him. I think he made the right decision.

That being said, if I were young and had a colon cancer diagnosis with mets to the peritoneum, I'd probably want to try HIPEC. From what I've observed and read, I don't think HIPEC, in the vast majority of cases, will keep the cancer at bay forever, but it may allow a person more time. The more time, the more chance of new, more effective treatments.

[jillbugs4110]

Thank you for feed back all of you....

[annalexandria]

I never had HIPEC (and like others, my onc wasn't enthusiastic about it) but in general, I chose to trust my surgeon. His advice was always sound...and I can esp see that now that I'm looking back on the whole thing from a few years down the road. So if your surgeon is in favor, and you trust him/her, I would tend to put more weight in that opinion.

My other thought was what if they took a "watch and wait" approach, combined with frequent scans? And then follow up with traditional surgery as needed? This was what both surgeon and my onc recommended for me, and although it was nerve-wracking (I had to sit and watch tiny blips on my scans grow into something big enough to remove, all the while hoping a bunch of new stuff didn't show up), it ended up working well. And the frequent surgeries, although hard on me, were not as hard as HIPEC would have been.

Big hugs coming your way...it's so hard when the path isn't clear.
AA

[skypup]

I would have any surgery, no matter how tough, if it gave me a fighting chance at a cure. Chemo-for-life sucks. And three years life extension when average survival with chemo is only three years? Sounds like a really good trade-off to me even if it doesn't cure. One question: how experienced is your surgeon in HIPEC? You def want someone who has done a lot of them.

[peanut_8]

Jill, have you considered getting a second opinion for a different oncologist? It seems to me that yours has a negative opinion about almost everything. Maybe you can find one that can explain things to you better. From what you have said, it sounds like your surgeon is a good one, maybe he could refer you to someone. Just another idea.
Best Wishes, peanut

[jillbugs4110]

I have thought of this peanut...i like her I do I would most likely have her as a friend but she's an onc for all types of cancer and colon cancer she just seems unaware so often of treatment options or unwilling just chemo....again wish I lived in NY and could go to MSK butt if wishes where fishes we would all have some...

jill