Siti wrote:P/S: we live in Amsterdam and will be getting treated at the NKI. We were considering getting treated at MSK or MD Anderson if things don’t go well here but we were told that the medical bill would be in the millions of dollars! Is that true?
MetastaticEquilibria wrote:
You can get rough prices from them — look for their “International Patient” inquiry portals. I have done this (I am in Japan), and my recollection is that most procedures were in the high-tens to low-hundreds of thousands of dollars for a cash-basis patient. One procedure means something like surgery or a full course of radiation or chemo. They can review your case and give an estimate up front, which you pay before they begin treatment.
Generally, I concluded it doesn’t make sense to go to them (if you can even afford them) unless you want access to something they specialize in that you cannot get, or would have a hard time getting done, in your country. For example, HAI pump at MSK, or a wide variety of clinical trials at MDA.
Add: you can also request a remote second opinion from them for a-couple-to-a-few thousand dollars. You’ll need to get all your medical records, scans, etc. to them, and everything needs to be translated into English. This might at least put your mind at ease if they concur with your current plan of treatment.
Siti wrote:Hello Jep,
This is my first post.
My husband is in a similar situation. He had his colon resection done via laparoscopy 10 days ago. Recovering very well and will start chemo mid-August. His PET-CT Scan shows a few distant lymph nodes (para-aorta, neck and hip).
We consulted 2 oncologists — one from Singapore and another in the Netherlands. They both suggested chemo to see if the LN shrink and don’t see the need for surgery at this stage.
I am really lost and worried because I don’t know if he would respond well to chemo and his CEA levels are really low so I don’t have a clue how they’re going to monitor his progress.
Trying to stay positive...I wish all the warriors here the best!
P/S: we live in Amsterdam and will be getting treated at the NKI. We were considering getting treated at MSK or MD Anderson if things don’t go well here but we were told that the medical bill would be in the millions of dollars! Is that true?
clj12288 wrote:Hi jep
I believe I responded to you before on a thread about para-aortic lymph nodes/olymphians.
I just had a major surgery in early June where they went in and got what tissue they could along my aorto/common illiacs as there were several 'hot spots' on scans that were persistent, even after a lot of chemo. The colorectal surgeon who did this told me he couldn't exactly just grab a couple lymph nodes because in that area it's difficult to discern what's a lymph node and what's not. They also had a vascular surgeon in the room thankfully, as they had to use a bovine graft on the area at the aortic bifurcation. I had radiation also to this area a few years ago and it caused very fragile veins/arteries in that area, so when there was manipulation from the colorectal surgeon it began to tear. I don't say this to worry you but rather that it's great to have a vascular surgeon there in case they are needed, and even if something happens, they can work quickly to resolve an issue. I'm doing fine now; it was a long recovery with it being such a long surgery (14 hours) but I am finally feeling back to normal, am back at work and beginning to do more physical activity (6-8 weeks of recovery).
Let me know if you have any questions about this surgery. It's major but you should find some comfort that no surgeon would undertake this if they thought it was highly unlikely to significantly help a patient. For me, I don't know what will happen in the coming months/years, but at this point, I'll be getting at a minimum 6 month break from chemo.
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