Help and confused

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Smiggs
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:35 pm

Help and confused

Postby Smiggs » Wed Jun 21, 2017 2:50 pm

So my mum had major surgery to remove a tumour in November 2015..... she was then on chemo tablets for six months Jan - June had her year scan in the October which showed that two tumours one on her pelvis lining and one just below her coxcys... started chemo via drip as palltive care...: mum had another scan in April and her tumours one had shrunk from 1.2mm to 0.7mm and another from 1.7cm to 0.7cm mum has carried on which chemo but they had to take her off cetimbuxi for the last two sessions has she was having skin infections with this.... we seen the doctor last week and mum is having another scan he told us that will be her 13 session of chemo.... he then said if the tumours have shrunk or unable to see on the scan my mum can stop chemo till the cancer comes back ? Does this mean it's going to come back straight away or carry on with the chemo which am worried about and may kill her if she doesn't have a break am not 100% convinced on the doctor and feel fobbed off because of her age... have seen ppl live years on here with cancer but are all the drugs the same, seen someone also with stage 4 on here been given the clear.... can anyone help me out with anything. I live in England

Lee
Posts: 6207
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:09 pm

Re: Help and confused

Postby Lee » Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:32 pm

How old is your mom? What is her over all health?

Chemo is very good about shrinking tumors, butt usually surgery is your best bet to get ALL the cancer cells out. Sometimes with chemo shrinkage only, a few cancer cells still remain and can become active again.

2nd opinions are always a good idea. If possible, at a major cancer treatment center. If your mom is in fairly good health, yes I would be looking at other options.

Hope this helps,

Lee
rectal cancer - April 2004
46 yrs old at diagnoses
stage III C - 6/13 lymph positive
radiation - 6 weeks
surgery - August 2004/hernia repair 2014
permanent colostomy
chemo - FOLFOX
NED - 16 years and counting!

stu
Posts: 1613
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:46 pm

Re: Help and confused

Postby stu » Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:16 am

Hi,
You will have noticed that we have a different treatment protocol in the UK to the US . In the UK it is quite common to have chemo breaks where they come off chemo until a scan or markers show the need to start again . They would expect the tumour to start growing again but the speed of that is an unknown until they watch and see what happens. For instance my mum's liver mets start growing quite quickly but her lung met was slow growing and they were able to watch it for over a year with no intervention until it reached a certain size. The very good news is she responds well to treatment. If you go onto Beating Bowel Cancer Uk they have a forum with a stage 4 section . They have an excellent leaflet in it about treatment options and chemotherapy options that are available in the UK . This will show you how it's normally managed. You can ask for a surgical review and a radiologist review to see if they can offer any other way of helping her. With the Help of the NHS my mum has made it to 75 , eight years as a stage 4 patient . She still has a fit and active life and we make it clear she likes to explore all options open to her.
This is purely my opinion but I like the fact that my mum had treatment breaks as she could enjoy her life and in my mind every day is important but she followed her oncologists advise when to go on and off chemo but she insisted on referrals to other doctors as she wanted to hear it directly from them .
Hope that helps,
Stu
supporter to my mum who lives a great life despite a difficult diagnosis
stage4 2009 significant spread to liver
2010 colon /liver resection
chemo following recurrence
73% of liver removed
enjoying life treatment free
2016 lung resection
Oct 2017 nice clear scan . Two lung nodules disappeared
Oct 2018. Another clear scan .


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