Postby Rikimaroo » Fri May 19, 2017 2:16 pm
Watch and Wait even though its a newer method, has still been around quite a few years and they do have data on it. Numerous articles have been coming out about not rushing to surgery when a patient has CCR.
Of course its still a difficult decision because the standard of care has always been, surgery is king. Watch and Wait is kind of debunking that thought and working for a lot of people. Like anything in cancer, there was a time when nothing could be done, everyday, month, year there is new things that can be done. So we should all be open to Watch and Wait, Surgery, Chemo Radiation, Immunotherapy and whatever else they are doing to help fight cancer.
If your a candidate for W&W based on cCR I would go that route and do anything and everything possible to help the doctors with achieving cancer free outcomes and non recurrence. We can't be just sheep listening to everything the doctors says, we have to also be our own advocate. Doctor's are not perfect and one can also question the reasoning behind certain monetary rewards for the institution/doctor's if they follow the standard of procedure, vs shifting away and doing something different like watch and wait.
I am not knocking on anyone who did surgery, I have a cCR and still having a hard time deciding what to do, because there are so many angles being thrown at you, from reading here at the forum and from doctors. It's really hard to make a decision. If I a biopsy comes back and there is cancer, I am doing surgery no questions, but if not, why go through a surgery when there are possibly other techniques that can be done and proven to be successful not given a chance?
Standard of procedure is open to change and like we all probably agree, there is possibly a cure for cancer, but its a multi billion dollar business. You have a cure, no more chemo, no more radiotherapy, no more surgeries, just a pill. No way pill is going to cost as much as all of that. Their is just so much thrown into this equation, it makes for a difficult decision making.
I hope everyone has a great outcome no matter there choice, but surgery is not the only option now, 2017 and more options are available.
RC T3N1M0 12/16
MSS - NRAS Mutation
Chemo Rad, CCR - W&W 5/2017
Recurrence 11/2017
CT Scan 11/2017 Liver Met 5.5cm Stable, Stage IV
LAR/Liver Resect 4/2018
Reversal 10/18
CEA highest 500, lowest .8 throughout process, waiting for latest
Recurrence left vesical/pelvic sidewall - 10/7/2019 resect perm bag,
CEA rise Feb/May 3.7, 8.8, 30, Recurrence in Pelvic
CEA 40 right now, but was 57, so folfiri to beat it back down.
Lots of chemo for the past 4 years.