To Do Surgery or Not to Do Surgery?

[TrojanGirlie]

Hi,

My husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer last May. He began Xeloda and radiation and was planning to have surgery until they discovered it had spread to his liver, making it Stage 4 in September. Then he began FOLFIRI, Erbitux, and Irinotecan in October. He recently had an MRI done on his liver that showed the amount of tumors has decreased by 50%. Our oncologist encouraged us to reach out to the surgeon to see if surgery would now be an option. We were referred to the surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in North Hollywood and he told us that the right side of the liver was still completely covered in tumor, but the left side had a minor amount of tumors located all around the edge of the liver. He suggested complete removal of the right side of the liver and taking away the small tumors on the left side of the liver leaving a small amount. He said while the surgery can technically be completed, it would be extremely high risk, however there is a small possibility it might be curative. He also mentioned that we could continue more chemo and re-evaluate the situation at a later time. My husband is concerned that while he continues chemotherapy, even though he is showing a good response to FOLFIRI, the cancer might spread to the lungs and surgery would be completely ruled out as an option. We are seeking advice from anyone who has been in a similar experience. How likely is it that the cancer would spread elsewhere while doing the chemotherapy? Has anyone else had liver surgery? What is the recovery like? All advice is appreciated. Thank you

[Notyouravgbro]

Have you looked into doing it in 2 stages? I have a similar situation and am in the middle of that now. I had a wedge resection and some ablations to the left side on 1/12 and we plan to remove the entire right lobe after 8 weeks (in mid March) it is 2 pretty tough surgeries back to back, but takes the high risk of liver failure down.

[stu]

Hi,
My mother had 73%of her liver removed in 2010 and it has remained clear ever since. It was the biggest surgery to date . She was in hospital for two weeks . The hardest post op complication was fluid retention. After about a month she started making quicker progress . She was 69 at the time.
It was for her a window of opportunity she wanted to take . Five years later she had one small met in her lung which was quickly removed.
She was fully informed of the risks.
I wish him all the best with this difficult decision.
Kind regards
Stu

[altermc]

Hi,
I am new to this forum. Today I had a colonoscopy and my doctor (GI) told me that I have a mass in the colon and it is cancerous. He took biopsies and the result of the biopsy would be known in 5-7 days. The biopsies may also spread the cancer to other organs thru blood (needle tracking). The doctor also ordered additional test like CT scan of the abdominal area (pancreas and others) and also CT scan of the chest. I m not very fond of CT scans. The radiation from the CT's also causes cancers.

I 'm in a shock mode and do not know what to do!!

Anyone in the forum has any experience with alternative treatment of colon and other type of cancers!!

Thank you and let us pray for one another.

[Green Tea]

Hi,
I am new to this forum. Today I had a colonoscopy and my doctor (GI) told me that I have a mass in the colon and it is cancerous. He took biopsies and the result of the biopsy would be known in 5-7 days. The biopsies may also spread the cancer to other organs thru blood (needle tracking). The doctor also ordered additional test like CT scan of the abdominal area (pancreas and others) and also CT scan of the chest. I m not very fond of CT scans. The radiation from the CT's also causes cancers.

I 'm in a shock mode and do not know what to do!!

Anyone in the forum has any experience with alternative treatment of colon and other type of cancers!!

Thank you and let us pray for one another.

altermc - Welcome to the Forum. Since you are a newcomer here and might want to stay around to get feedback on your particular situation, there are two things I would suggest right now at the beginning:

1. Create a signature.
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   Forum features:
   http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=50946&p=392504#p392504
   .
2. Post a NewTopic focused on your questions. You can put your own information and requests in a NewTopic so that everything that is posted in the topic thread is about you and not about others. To create a NewTopic that belongs only to you, click on the link below, put your introductory information there and Submit it after you have reviewed it for errors.
   
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