Hi there,
My name is Trinity and I am the decision maker, my father is the 'caregiver' of my 53 yo step-mom stage IV colon cancer with liver mets.
Carol was diagnosed in 9/16 after a crisis with 98% tumor blockage in her colon. She immediately had a colon resection and the surgeon told us her liver was so full of tumors that maybe she would live two years. We began chemo on Halloween 2016 with a CEA of 192. She had the classic combo of Folfox and Avastin but also did a total lifestyle change health and eating wise. Last month her CEA was down to 25 and her scan showed all but one tumor in the left lobe gone that lies right on the line between lobes and three in the right. When asking her oncologist about options now he said stay on chemo to keep her alive as long as we can. Instead we went to Moffitt to meet with their GI doc Dr. Kim who presented to the tumor board and had determined she is a borderline case and wants to do as follows:
Stop the chemo
Ablate the one tumor on the lobe line
Cut off blood supply to the right lobe
Give the liver 4-6 weeks to grow
If grows remove the right lobe
4-5 weeks chemo after surgery
Steps 1-3 have to work and more tumors can't grow during step 3. I asked why not stay an chemo longer since she is such a great responder and they said the liver surgeon said the longer on chemo the harder for the liver to rebound and this is her best chance.
Today we had an MRI and met with the radiologist at Moffitt. We are three weeks off chemo yesterday. They have scheduled the surgical consult for Monday Feb 13th after the tumor board meets again and they decide if they want to ablate the borderline tumor or the surgeon may take a little extra of that lobe. The embolization is scheduled for Monday Feb 20th. Everything is contingent on the left lobe growing which they don't sound super confident about.
I have concerns about being off chemo so long even though it would seem she would need to be off the Avastin in order for the liver to grow. We had talked about going to MSKCC for a third opinion but it feels like we have a very limited window and we don't want to stay off chemo even longer.
Any experience, guidance or tips????
Trinity -
Patient- Carol
dx 9/2016 CRC stage iv liver mets
colon resection 9/16
Folfox/Avastin 10/16-1/17
(Hope I did that right )