Watch & Wait Approach?

[Gtafoya]

Researching options...
I have a rectum tumor with Mets to liver...I’ve received chemo (Xeloda & Oxaliplatin) to shrink the liver tumor and it was successfully removed last month...

Now I’m receiving 5 weeks of chemo-radiation to shrink my rectum tumor.

After chemo-radiation, anyone heard of “wait & watch” approach and choose not to have rectum tumor removal surgery?

How do I intelligently introduce this approach to my oncologist & surgeon? Science & statistics?

[[Ana & Alex]]

Gtafoya please inform yourself really good before you think about refusing surgery.

Watch and wait approaches are for people who had local tumors - without linfatic/vascular involvement I.e. without linf nodes affected I.e. without metastases. It is an option to consider when cancer is in an initial phase and when people achieve a Pathological Complete Response afyer therapy on the spot where the tumour was.

Please read the posts from weissoccermom - she has made that option, successfully, because she follow all the right procedures and guidelines for it. Maybe it would help you if you read her comments to other posters with similar queations to yours. There is a thread about watch and wait approaches as well.

To anyone who has a tumour with linfnode invasion and systemic metastases: systemic chemotherapy, local radiation (in case of rectal cancer) and radical surgery are the only safe way to go, as know by conventional medicine.

I myself have done all the three, with a permanent colostomy that I choose to maintain. Life is very good at the moment.

And everytime I am afraid that cancer comes back - I know that I did everything on my power to lay it to rest - and that gives me peace of mind.

And that is priceless.

Good luck with your decision!

Love,

Ana

[Gtafoya]

Thank you for sharing your journey and knowledge...much appreciated.
Yes, I will keep an open mind and research this issue further.
Peace, Gerald

[Big Jay]

There's a thread dedicated to W&W on the forum:

http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com ... hilit=habr

When I had a post-radiation CCR, in November 2016, I did a lot of research into W&W. I even went so far as to meet with Dr. Garcia-Aguilar at MSK who's running the only (that I know of) U.S. based clinical study of W&W. In my research I don't recall every seeing W&W being used with Stage 4.