Update...

[Vol]

Colonoscopy tissue from the mass is cancer. Appears this is where the cancer developed.

Gall bladder and Liver were cleared by the guy that read the MRI (also used the CT scan).

Oncologist said this is more straight forward now. They will remove the mass, it appears to be in a reasonable location. Actual stage and the real final word will come after the surgery, I see the surgeon tomorrow for consult and scheduling. Hoping for surgery later this week.

Will meet with him in three weeks to talk about need/type of chemo.

Thoughts - advice?

Vol

[curious56]

Start Cimetidine (Tagamet) NOW. I think 800-1200 is the target dose per day. Continue to take it for at least 2 weeks after surgery. Many of us take it long term. It helps prevent cells disturbed during surgery from metastasizing. Search this forum and/or PubMed for more info. Since CEA appears to be a marker for you, Cimetidine is more likely to help.

GREAT news, BTW! Now praying for Stage II, max!

BTW, you most likely will get a resection -- they take out 12" to 18" of colon along with the mass. This makes your gastro-intestinal system go to sleep. You cannot leave the hospital til it "wakes up" and you are eating. So, chew gum and walk, walk, walk as soon as the surgeon gives the ok (usually within 24 hrs after surgery, I think). These things will help get your system moving again! Come to think of it, Cimetidine after surgery (UNTIL your system wakes up) might have to be given via injection or IV. Ask your doc -- take printed studies with you, if needed. Not every onc knows about the benefits of Cimetidine.

[jhocno197]

I second the cimetidine!

[cathy123]

So glad the scans did not show spread! Good luck with your surgery. Ask if laproscopic is an option - much easier recovery.

[Nik Colon]

So glad you know now, best wishes

[Vol]

Thanks for the support and advice. I printed out the article I found on cimetidine for the surgeon (he had not heard of it). British Journal of Cancer 2002 is what I found. I don't have a date yet, hoping it is before the end of the week.

I saw that Eric Berry, ex-Tennessee football player has been cleared to start practice for fall. Going to wear his jersey to my surgery for luck.

Vol

[GrouseMan]

Here are some additional references for you.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42861 Much discussion on the Colon Club

http://www.oncologynurseadvisor.com/hea ... le/386136/

http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1038/sj.bjc.6600097

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1963/ Very near the bottom of the article they talk about Cimetidine use

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/ ... 00028/full (Ref 229)

http://www.lef.org/magazine/2009/12/Pre ... is/Page-01 (Life Extension Foundation)

http://www.lef.org/magazine/2007/5/repo ... ne/Page-01 (Life Extension Foundation)

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/cimeti ... bjLhc_D-9I

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2444 ... 40473_4891 (See Comments - Also Talks about PSK)

My wife has been taking Cimetidine (Tagamet) now approaching two years. I think this in addition to her maintenance treatment of 5-Fu/Leucovorin/Avastin once every three weeks is what has been responsible for her remaining stable with no new Mets. She takes 800 mgs daily 400 in the morning and 400 in the evening. Originally her oncologist said she had 2 to 5 years. He is very pleased with her progress, but is rather indifferent about the cimetidine. Wish we had known about it prior to her surgery. Right now if you didn't know any better you would not know she has terminal "chemo for life" colon cancer! She is very active and tolerates treatment very well.

Good luck in your Journey

GrouseMan

[Lee]

Welcome and good luck with your upcoming surgery.

Lee

[rp1954]

We've gotten these baseline biomarkers, preferably (insistently), most usefully before surgery: CEA, CA19-9, AFP, CA125, CA72-4, fibrinogen, quantitative d-dimer.
Our basic blood data, CMP-CBC, have also included LDH, hsCRP, ESR, HgbA1C, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, abbreviated 25(OH)D, for more thorough evaluations.
Sooner or later, some of these relatively low cost "extras" have made critical differences that standard care missed or couldn't provide, and saved us a wad of money, mistakes and misery. We repeated the CEA, CA19-9 and any elevated biomarkers 7-11 days after surgery to help evaluate the degree of cancer removal.

Serum CA19-9 can be important for several reasons, including long term cimetidine decisions for pre-op values in the 20+s when combined with elevated CEA or KRAS mutants. The other biomarkers may have meaning either in the present, albeit less commonly than CEA, for less common CRC variants, and in the future, when dealing with evolutions.

For female with advanced CRC, we used cimetidine up to 1600 mg/day with 15000-30,000 iu per day of vitamin D3 before surgeries to replete vitamin D deficiencies, a common, gross deficiency for CRC patients. Guys sometimes toleratED less daily cimetidine. With the surgeon substituting out the newer proton pump inhibitors for prophyllaxis of acid aspiration, even higher dose cimetidine was used for surgery itself.