Adjuvant Chemo Delayed

[sunnysideupalways]

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone has had experience with their adjuvant chemo being delayed after surgery?

Husband had surgery on Dec 2 2020 to remove 8cm tumour in descending colon. Had a bit of a delay with follow up pathology due to Christmas break...but were told on Jan 4 2021 0/25 lymph nodes affected.

Met with the oncologist on Jan 25 2021 who not only told us pathology had been updated to show 1/32 lymph nodes now, but also that my husbands CT scan (from back in November!) showed a large aortic aneurysm that has to be dealt with before chemo. We are hoping that will be resolved in a week or two, but am now getting worried about chemo starting 9+ weeks after surgery.

Any reassurance would be welcome!

[polluxx]

I wish I had more concrete information for you. After my surgery, my oncologist wanted to start chemo within 4 weeks.

This was right at the very beginning of the pandemic which threw us a few curveballs. Getting my port put in kept getting cancelled because our governor put a stop to all non urgent surgeries, but gave no information to the hospitals about what he considers urgent.

My surgeon and oncologist really had to fight the system for me, but I was able to start chemo 3 weeks after my hemicolectomy.

In your situation, I don’t see any alternative to a slight delay. You have to do first what needs to be done first and that is what you are doing. Keep us posted on how everything is going.

[GrouseMan]

The large aortic aneurysm is much more deadly in the short term to your husband at this point than the cancer and must be dealt with first. Undergoing Chemo with a that would be dangerous, and the surgery to correct the aneurysm must heal before chemo. Lucky that they saw that! People drop dead from undiagnosed aneurysms that burst.

See:
https://wikem.org/wiki/Abdominal_aortic_aneurysm

Good Luck

GrouseMan

[sunnysideupalways]

Thank you so much for your replies! Open heart surgery is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday of next week, but we are meeting with the surgeon on Monday to see if there’s any reason he’s not a candidate/any downfalls for endovascular surgery to remove the aneurysm since the healing time is reduced, and theoretically would be able to start chemo sooner that way.

So grateful for this message board!