My mom's feeling better after a week of radiation and actually gained about 5 kgs, which is fantastic so the onc offered she could start irinotecan and bevacizumab if she had the guts. She did. A recent CT scan shows that the liver mets have grown about 1cm in three months time (from 1cm to 2cm). I think this sounds scary! Is it? Scan was inconclusive re the status of the primary tumors as the rectal tumor is swollen due to rad and colon tumor "was moving around" during scanning.
We're "blessed" with public health care here, so we never see the same onc twice and the appointments are short as there are too many patients or not enough doctors, so I'm left with so many questions. I've read that many of you with rc had radiation for several weeks, my mom only got a week. Onc says that she's received "full dose" and that they won't be able to give her more radiation later on. What's up with this???
After CAPOX failed twice, the onc said that from now on she's on palliative care, not curative. Still, they gave her radiation and now chemo. Asking the onc if the current cocktail (irino+bevacizumab) is not capable of shrinking tumors, he said "well, yes of course!" This leaves me confused. Shouldn't they still be able to cure her then? What can we possibly expect from the current chemo cocktail? Any thoughts on this are appreciated.
Also, we've been told that the rectal tumor is the real cuprit here. Liver mets were small when discovered, could be removed with surgery. Colon tumor could be easily removed as well. Rectal tumor has grown into complicated areas (don't know the details) and cannot be removed. At least not right now. And as long as (one of) the primary tumors cannot be removed with surgery, they don't perform any surgery on anything else. Isn't this a bit harsh?
Last questions: How many days does it usually take before the hair falls off? Ad: her colon tumor is 30 cms from the av, if anyone could enlighten me and share the name of this part of the colon, I'd appreciate it
Thanks for any input!