New here- my husband recently diagnosed with liver and bone mets- age 44

Please feel free to read, share your thoughts, your stories and connect with others!
mrshillsey
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 8:54 am

New here- my husband recently diagnosed with liver and bone mets- age 44

Postby mrshillsey » Sat Oct 14, 2017 10:08 am

Hi folks,

I am based in Australia, and looking for information and experience please.

My husband has been diagnosed in August 2017 with a (1.5cm) tumour in his descending colon, and a liver that is more tumour than liver, AND bone mets to many areas including soine, pelvis, hip, ribs (no long bones)

His symptoms were side pain and some referred shoulder pain so initial investigation was around hep A, cirrosis or gall stones.

We have excellent care so far and he already has had 4 Folfox rounds with 3 Avastin.

I searched this forum and can’t seem to find much about bone mets? They do tell us his presentation is very unusual but I am hoping for some insight from a broader group?

Happy for stories good and bad.... I need information. We have two kids age 12 and 10 and not knowing much is difficult for me particularly. I am trying to be honest with the kids without being too factual! A fine line.

Thanks in advance

Sonia

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

Re: New here- my husband recently diagnosed with liver and bone mets- age 44

Postby Lee » Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:58 pm

Hi and welcome, so very sorry for the reason you are here.

I'm in the USA, butt we do have many members from Australia, so hopefully some of them will chime in soon.

Regarding bone mets, radiation has been known to help with that. Is your husband being treated at a local hospital or a major cancer treatment center? If not at a major cancer treatment center, I would highly recommend getting a 2nd opinion at one. Because your husband is dealing with a stage IV, I would highly recommend getting a couple of opinions at different major cancer treatment centers.

What is the plan for your husband, have they talked about surgery. HAI has helped many people with liver mets.

Hope this helps, Good luck.

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!

DarknessEmbraced
Posts: 3816
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2014 4:54 pm
Facebook Username: Riann Fletcher
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Re: New here- my husband recently diagnosed with liver and bone mets- age 44

Postby DarknessEmbraced » Sat Oct 14, 2017 5:31 pm

I'm sorry you and your husband are going through this!*hugs*
Diagnosed 10/28/14, age 36
Colon Resection 11/20/14, LAR (no illeo)
Stage 2a colon cancer, T3NOMO
Lymph-vascular invasion undetermined
0/22 lymph nodes
No chemo, no radiation
Clear Colonoscopy 04/29/15
NED 10/20/15
Ischemic Colitis 01/21/16
NED 11/10/16
CT Scan moved up due to high CEA 08/21/17
NED 09/25/17
NED 12/21/18
Clear colonoscopy 09/23/19
Clear 5 year scans 11/21/19- Considered cured! :)

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

Re: New here- my husband recently diagnosed with liver and bone mets- age 44

Postby Lee » Sat Oct 14, 2017 9:57 pm

mrshillsey wrote:. . . We have two kids age 12 and 10 and not knowing much is difficult for me particularly. I am trying to be honest with the kids without being too factual! A fine line.

Thanks in advance

Sonia


Bump for our friends down under. My kids were 9 & 11 when I was diagnosed. I hear ya. I also tried to be honest and upbeat. I did not tell the details. Butt if they did ask, I would be honest. My daughter years later told me she appreciated me talking about my cancer to my friends when she was around. She felt I was not hiding things from her.

All the best to you and your DH,

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!

mrshillsey
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 8:54 am

Re: New here- my husband recently diagnosed with liver and bone mets- age 44

Postby mrshillsey » Sun Oct 15, 2017 8:37 am

Hi all, and thanks for your replies.

We are in a major city and under excellent care so far.

It does seem though after finding evidence of many bone lesions that surgery is not even being discussed at this stage. His liver is under so much pressure from tumours (multiple and a couple 10cm +) that’s where his pain is at so chemo is all about trying to shrink those tumours.

Our Oncologist has said review after the first 3 months of Folfox and Avastian and another PET scan.

He’s two months into it so we should get some more info soon I hope.

Thanks for the welcome. X

User avatar
waw4
Posts: 847
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:44 am
Location: Durham, NC

Re: New here- my husband recently diagnosed with liver and bone mets- age 44

Postby waw4 » Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:25 am

Sonia,
From your description of your husband's metastatic cancer symptoms, his condition appears to be quite serious, as I am sure you already know.

As I understand it, the liver, lung, and abdomen are more frequent colon cancer metastatic sites while bone metastases are less common, which I imagine is why your oncologist described your husband's presentation as "unusual".

Not being physicians ourselves, we can't really offer a prognosis, for which you should consult your oncologist.

The National Institute of Health (U.S.) does have a page on metastatic cancer at
https://www.cancer.gov/types/metastatic-cancer

Much empathy to you both,
Bill
Bill's Colonoscopy 6/29/10; Dx Stage I or II
Surgery 7/15/10; Dx Stage III,15/32 lymph nodes
FOLFOX4 start 9/14/10; end 1/20/11 (9 tx)
2021 dx MSH6 Lynch Syndrome positive
(as are my brother, sister & son, but not daughter)
Grateful for 2nd Chance NED time!


Return to “Colon Talk - Colon cancer (colorectal cancer) support forum”



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 117 guests