bitchslapped wrote:Hello Everybody,
There are a few people on here following the story of my BFF, 64, F dx'd w/appendix cancer low grade mucinous neoplasm, 2cm, 0 LN + mucinous carcinoma peritonei or something close to that (spread to peritoneum). There are so many different dx to appendix cancer. Anyway, I intended to share her HIPEC experience, CRS/HIPEC (Cytoreductive Surgery + Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemoperfusion) here on the forum b/c we don't see that many of them on here...recent ones, or much detail. Of course this is all second hand info, so w/b short on some of the details as they are out of state now for the surgery, but intend to share the good, the bad & the ugly as I know it. Might be some editing along the way.
Brief Background:
It took many docs to finally get this dx, laparoscopic surgery to remove appendix + a couple of lesions in peritoneum, one of which was close to the liver. This eliminated her upper right side abdominal pain that she had been experiencing for a few months. She then flew to consult w/Dr. Andrew Lowy, UCSD, @ which time he estimated her PCI (peritoneal cancer index) of under 10, making her a good candidate for HIPEC w/estimate of 5 hr CRS + HIPEC.
Surgery
Increased exercise program approx 6 wks in advance of HIPEC, i.e. extra walking. Bowel prep day before surgery. The procedure took place Fri.,Dec.1, approx 6 hrs total. Long incision; stem to sternum, closed w/glue (adhesive vs staples). Disease was limited to the right side of abdomen, lower tumor burden than they typically see, 2 lesions on liver, one upper diaphragm, the balance apparently is removed via stripping out the peritoneum likened to removing wallpaper as described by doc, also removed the omentum. No organs removed, HIPEC portion (chemo bath of mytomycin-C approx 90 min enclosed, manual manipulation to circulate, drained, added small additional amount of mytomycin-C for another 45 min) post CRS. It was decided ICU not necessary; moved to regular private room. Yesterday afternoon (12/2) she was sitting up on the edge of her bed, standing up w/walker, however learned from email from her DH that last night pain from drain tube, low blood pressure, heart rate 188, AFIB. 4 hrs of intense evaluation by team of docs (incl cardiologist), nurses, chest x-ray, going over options + considering moving her into ICU. "Administered the right medication & her heart snapped back into rhythm with lots of cheers and "woo-hoos" from the staff on duty", per update from her son. They got her normalized around 11:30 pm in her room. She does take BP meds. Apparently, this is fairly common, though serious. This afternoon (12/3, 2 days post surgery) she was resting comfortably in a chair, took a lap around the hospital ward.
I was a little unnerved by this turn of events, but all seems well for now.
BS
Thank you for sharing. Wish your friend will have good luck for her treatment.
My mom didn’t have any symptom before she got the colonoscopy screening done last November. The pre-surgery Biopsy reviewed she has a colon mass. After the surgery, they found out my mom has low grade adenocarcinoma ascending colon cancer. Since the CT was negative and the CEA was 2.3. The oncologist suggested no chemo at all.
She started to have abdominal pain since the end of this May. At the beginning of this July, the oncologist found she has localized small perio met. We went to JHH and the tumor board decided to put her in chemo first, and then surgery plus HIPEC( they said they will try to cure her).
However, the tumor progressed aggressively after she had 4 FOLFOX. Now she has numerous seeding and some are pretty big. We went to 3 cancer center that designated by NCI. Unfortunately, no Drs can explained why this happened to us. They said the tumor behaves like appendix cancer.