Pain below right ribcage

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patrickt
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 12:32 pm

Pain below right ribcage

Postby patrickt » Mon Nov 11, 2019 8:40 pm

Anybody experience faint pain below the right rib cage that comes and goes? My mom completed six rounds of oral + IV chemo. She also had a splenectomy + ablation of liver met in July.

She's not bothered by it, says it's about 3 in 1-10 pain scale. She has a CT scan coming up, last scan her CEA was below 4. Anybody experience the same type of pain in their treatment?
Mom (58) has RC stage 4, 1 metastasized to liver, stage 1A lung.
Diagnosed 5/2016
Chemo/radiation 6/2016 - 11/2016
Radiation therapy to treat stage 1 lung cancer 10/15/2016
Liver ablation (colorectal cancer liver metastasis) 11/20/2016
LAR surgery - 11/30/2016
Recovery - tests are looking good 1/1/2017
Radiation completed 3/24/2017
NED 1/2019
Recurrence - liver + spleen - 2/2019
CEA = 19
Chemo - 3/2019
Splenectomy + Liver ablation - 7/2019
Finished 6 rounds of chemo - 9/2019
CEA = 4

hopefulandstrong
Posts: 58
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:11 pm

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby hopefulandstrong » Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:04 pm

I have that. It comes and goes, on both sides. My disease in confined to my liver, so when it's on the right side, I sometimes worry. But my onc prescribed an antacid, which helps. I notice it flares when I eat a lot.
54, female
1/8/19 DS Stage 4 with Liver Mets; Successful Colon Resect
2/18/19 Started Folfox -- CEA 70
5/8/19 - BRAF mutation -- switch to Triplet Therapy: Encorafenib, Binimetinib, Cetximab
6/13/19 - CEA dropped from 214 to 22
8/29 - CEA jump to 30-- scans reveal liver spread, though still confined. triplet therapy abandoned; some concern about PIC3 mutation interfering with BRAF treatment
9/1 - 10/4 -- no treatment
10/4 -- folfoxfiri to stem further progression; pump placement in January (hopefully)

heiders33
Posts: 363
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:08 am

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby heiders33 » Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:16 pm

Yes, I get that pain now and then. I had my liver resection over a year ago. I think it’s caused by a little inflammation in the resected area — but my LDH is high right now and I’m getting an MRI on Thursday to confirm whether I have a recurrence. However, I think that pain is pretty common when you’ve had an operation on your liver.
40 year-old female
May 2017: Dx rectal cancer T3N2M0
MSS, KRAS G12D
6/17: 28 days chemorad
9/17: LAR/loop ileostomy, CAPOX six rounds
3/18: reversal
9/18: liver met, resection/HAI pump, 11 rounds 5FU, 1 round FUDR
11/19 - local recurrence, brachytherapy, 3 weeks targeted radiation
12/21 - end colostomy

patrickt
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 12:32 pm

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby patrickt » Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:53 pm

Thanks for the responses! After doing more research it seems it's not uncommon. She has a scan in 2 weeks to see if there's anything to worry about. :)
Mom (58) has RC stage 4, 1 metastasized to liver, stage 1A lung.
Diagnosed 5/2016
Chemo/radiation 6/2016 - 11/2016
Radiation therapy to treat stage 1 lung cancer 10/15/2016
Liver ablation (colorectal cancer liver metastasis) 11/20/2016
LAR surgery - 11/30/2016
Recovery - tests are looking good 1/1/2017
Radiation completed 3/24/2017
NED 1/2019
Recurrence - liver + spleen - 2/2019
CEA = 19
Chemo - 3/2019
Splenectomy + Liver ablation - 7/2019
Finished 6 rounds of chemo - 9/2019
CEA = 4

User avatar
CRguy
Posts: 10473
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:00 pm

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby CRguy » Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:14 pm

Might be worth a discussion with the docs to be sure they image / assess her gallbladder in the process, especially since she has had hepatic involvement.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6082629/
describes the imaging efficacy in acute gallbladder attacks and suggests Ultrasound if CT is non-diagnostic, and vice versa
BUTT ... other causes MUST be ruled out, as many issues which cause pain are not severe acute gallbladder attacks.
Biliary sludging and gallstones are two distinct but related syndromes and while all of our cancer "docs" are looking for cancer related issues ....
Just because we are cancer patients dose not mean that every pain is cancer related !
" You miss more for not looking ... than not knowing !"

PLEASE ensure the docs keep looking !!

Best wishes
CRguy
Caregiver x 4
Stage IV A rectal cancer/lung met
17 Year survivor
my life is an ongoing totally randomized UNcontrolled experiment with N=1 !
Review of my Journey so far

Deb m
Posts: 558
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:08 am

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby Deb m » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:26 pm

gallbladder/stones? Sounds similar to the pain my son had and it turned out to be gallstones.

patrickt
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 12:32 pm

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby patrickt » Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:30 pm

Deb m wrote:gallbladder/stones? Sounds similar to the pain my son had and it turned out to be gallstones.


Thanks Deb m. She has an appointment next week.
Mom (58) has RC stage 4, 1 metastasized to liver, stage 1A lung.
Diagnosed 5/2016
Chemo/radiation 6/2016 - 11/2016
Radiation therapy to treat stage 1 lung cancer 10/15/2016
Liver ablation (colorectal cancer liver metastasis) 11/20/2016
LAR surgery - 11/30/2016
Recovery - tests are looking good 1/1/2017
Radiation completed 3/24/2017
NED 1/2019
Recurrence - liver + spleen - 2/2019
CEA = 19
Chemo - 3/2019
Splenectomy + Liver ablation - 7/2019
Finished 6 rounds of chemo - 9/2019
CEA = 4

Zod
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:56 pm
Facebook Username: Zod

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby Zod » Fri Nov 15, 2019 3:26 pm

I get the same thing, both sides, just under the short ribs. Been happening since before my latest round of chemo started. I also get some central pain (front) that sometimes is triggered immediately by drinking water or eating. Current thinking from the docs is that it's related to GERD from stress and previous treatments. I'm taking GERD medicine (PPI - proton pump inhibitor) which seems to help with the GERD but I still get twinges right and left side, under short ribs, about 4" out from the central line. Never more than pain 2 or 3.

Oncologist suggests that if it were pain from liver mets that it would be more continuous.

patrickt
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 12:32 pm

Re: Pain below right ribcage

Postby patrickt » Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:59 pm

Interesting because that's how she describes the pain. It comes and it goes and it's very faint and random.
Mom (58) has RC stage 4, 1 metastasized to liver, stage 1A lung.
Diagnosed 5/2016
Chemo/radiation 6/2016 - 11/2016
Radiation therapy to treat stage 1 lung cancer 10/15/2016
Liver ablation (colorectal cancer liver metastasis) 11/20/2016
LAR surgery - 11/30/2016
Recovery - tests are looking good 1/1/2017
Radiation completed 3/24/2017
NED 1/2019
Recurrence - liver + spleen - 2/2019
CEA = 19
Chemo - 3/2019
Splenectomy + Liver ablation - 7/2019
Finished 6 rounds of chemo - 9/2019
CEA = 4


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