3 month scan ? What to expect. (Rectal)

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Cured
Posts: 581
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:53 pm
Location: MO

Re: 3 month scan ? What to expect. (Rectal)

Postby Cured » Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:43 am

Guys, thanks for jumping-in and clarifying things.
I didn’t mean to dis chemo pre-surgery. When I did radiation before surgery they would only do it while I had continuous infusion of 5fu. With all of the talk of “sterilizing the field” I asked “so can I skip surgery”? The answer was a resounding NO. Good thing I followed through, as the tumor, which showed itself as stage 1 or 2 by scopes, was “like an iceberg” and large on the outside of the rectum. Radiation & chemo likely helped, but did not eliminate the cancer.

Each person seems to have different levels of tolerance. I didn’t like Oxaliplatin, but was happy to endure it in order to kill-off micro tumors.
My surgeon prescribed a wait between the chemo-radiation and surgery. Likewise a wait after surgery before doing the adjunct chemo. The body needs time to heal.
It needs some strength in order to get back to fighting cancer as it is designed to do.
7-18 Stg 4
5-08:Stg 3 Rectal: 6/14 Nodes
Ace Surgn Remvd 90%Rectm,lots of Colon-Full Incision
Ileo Rev'd 6 Mos.
Radian+5fu Pre-Surg
FOLFOX 8 Cyc,1-09
Clear Scope 8-17; CEA 2-18
Glory to God! Healed by prayers of many: for 10 yrs
7-18: tumor pressing brain Remove
Met to lung. CEA 6.9
Folfiri
CEA 4.5 after 1 chemo
8rds CEA 3 1.8, 2.3,1.7 then up:32
12rd Folfiri
Avastin ev 2 wks
Seizure Anti-seiz meds work-no driving for 6m
4-20PET: Lng spots=Chemo
2-21 tumr gth =Folfiri
Radiation 7-22

NHMike
Posts: 2555
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:43 am

Re: 3 month scan ? What to expect. (Rectal)

Postby NHMike » Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:46 am

Cured wrote:Guys, thanks for jumping-in and clarifying things.
I didn’t mean to dis chemo pre-surgery. When I did radiation before surgery they would only do it while I had continuous infusion of 5fu. With all of the talk of “sterilizing the field” I asked “so can I skip surgery”? The answer was a resounding NO. Good thing I followed through, as the tumor, which showed itself as stage 1 or 2 by scopes, was “like an iceberg” and large on the outside of the rectum. Radiation & chemo likely helped, but did not eliminate the cancer.

Each person seems to have different levels of tolerance. I didn’t like Oxaliplatin, but was happy to endure it in order to kill-off micro tumors.
My surgeon prescribed a wait between the chemo-radiation and surgery. Likewise a wait after surgery before doing the adjunct chemo. The body needs time to heal.
It needs some strength in order to get back to fighting cancer as it is designed to do.


Radiation keeps working for two months after it ends I believe.
6/17: ER rectal bleeding; Colonoscopy
7/17: 3B rectal. T3N1bM0. 5.2 4.5 4.3 cm. Lymphs: 6 x 4 mm, 8 x 6, 5 x 5
7/17-9/17: Xeloda radiation
7/5: CEA 2.7; 8/16: 1.9; 11/30: 0.6; 12/20 1.4; 1/10 1.8; 1/31 2.2; 2/28 2.6; 4/10 2.8; 5/1 2.8; 5/29 3.2; 7/13 4.5; 8/9 2.8, 2/12 1.2
MSS, KRAS G12D
10/17: 2.7 2.2 1.6 cm (-90%). Lymphs: 3 x 3 mm (-62.5%), 4 x 3 (-75%), 5 x 3 (-40%). 5.1 CM from AV
10/17: LAR, Temp Ileostomy, Path Complete Response
CapeOx (8) 12/17-6/18
7/18: Reversal, Port Removal
2/19: Clean CT

jsbsf
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 6:01 am
Location: San Francisco

Re: 3 month scan ? What to expect. (Rectal)

Postby jsbsf » Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:25 pm

It has not yet been 3 months, but today DH had an ultrasound after his 3rd round of FOLFOX (10/29).

His 2 liver mets grew pretty aggressively between 8/23 and 10/4. First treatment was on 9/30. On 10/4 the larger met was just under 4cm. The smaller one “grew substantially” from its original 7mm.

As a side note, CEA went from 4.1 to 12.5 on 10/13, 2 days before the 2nd treatment. So yes it went up. But two days before the 3rd treatment, 10/27 it was down to 4.7.

Today’s ultrasound was to determine if we’d need to do surgery sooner rather than later, to see if treatment was working.

The doctor was thrilled that both mets are already almost 2/3 smaller, and what remains includes scar tissue.

We don’t know about the colon tumor. It had not changed in size between 8/23 and 10/4, so today’s ultrasound did not pertain to it. However, before 8/23 there was a lot of pain during a bowel movement that would last over an hour. This pain stopped altogether after a couple weeks. We are thinking it was because of supplements we learned about on this forum and began taking regularly before chemo. At this point, there was only discomfort that started about 10 minutes after a bowel movement.

That discomfort completely subsided shortly after the first round of chemo.

Here is something else. It’s a little graphic, so I apologize for that. On Sunday night, he reported that his “bowel movement” was not brown, but was a dark white color. When he examined it, it was about 2 inches long and about the circumference of a pencil at both ends, almond shaped, about twice as wide in the middle. I am almost certain this was the actual tumor or a substantial piece of it.

The next day he says his pee flow was much more normal than it had been in a while. He thinks some pressure was relieved, and that makes me more certain it was the tumor. I believe the FOLFOX treatment has been working very well.
DH 61
2019 4A t3 n2 m1a
8/23 C-scopy, 5+cm mass. CEA:4.1
9/16 MSS. MRI: 2 lvr mets: 2.7 & 7mm
9/30 Start FOLFOX 1-6
10/4 Lg lvr met ~3.7cm, pri tmr stable.
CEA: 10/13,12.5;10/27-12/8 btw 4.7 & 3.1
11/5 both lvr mets ~ 2/3 smaller.
12/17 PET: significant improv.
2020
MWA 2/5, Lap resection 2/11
CEA: 3/1-5/31 btw 2.1&2.9
3/2 start FOLFOX 7-12
7/23-29 EBRT
10/2/2020 NED/W&W
4/2022 EUS-FNA,MRI: recur.;
5/2022:CT scan no mets. APR.
7-12/2023 Xeloda
4/2023 CT/MRI NED

jsbsf
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 6:01 am
Location: San Francisco

Re: 3 month scan ? What to expect. (Rectal)

Postby jsbsf » Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:36 pm

The original plan was was always subject to change, but we were told that if things worked out there would be 12 rounds of FOLFOX, and liver mets would be the focus and to expect resection after the 6th round. Because things are going at least as good as expected, the plan is for a PET scan on 12/16, after the 6th round, and then to meet with surgeons on 12/20.
DH 61
2019 4A t3 n2 m1a
8/23 C-scopy, 5+cm mass. CEA:4.1
9/16 MSS. MRI: 2 lvr mets: 2.7 & 7mm
9/30 Start FOLFOX 1-6
10/4 Lg lvr met ~3.7cm, pri tmr stable.
CEA: 10/13,12.5;10/27-12/8 btw 4.7 & 3.1
11/5 both lvr mets ~ 2/3 smaller.
12/17 PET: significant improv.
2020
MWA 2/5, Lap resection 2/11
CEA: 3/1-5/31 btw 2.1&2.9
3/2 start FOLFOX 7-12
7/23-29 EBRT
10/2/2020 NED/W&W
4/2022 EUS-FNA,MRI: recur.;
5/2022:CT scan no mets. APR.
7-12/2023 Xeloda
4/2023 CT/MRI NED


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