Hi all. Old timer here. First, after almost 7 years clean scans NED another spot popped up in my moms liver June 2022. Before I get into details she is doing extremely well- Ablation scheduled for Feb 22 (in a few weeks) and it is still only that one spot which is showing inactive on the latest Petscan. Since this past June it has stayed contained and has always been the one spot the past 8 months. Ok....so the details.
My moms journey started in May 2011 with stage 4 colon Mets to liver. She had two liver resections, ablations, tons of chemo and many ups and downs but in October 2015 we had a clean scan and she had been NED since.
June 2022 during a routine scan (it had been 6 months since last clean scan and almost 7 years before it went bye bye) a single liver spot near a vein popped up. No one was happy. I mean we all had a trip to Disney planned in August so this was going to put a kink in her plans. So first thing was to shrink it. Back on chemo she went. We never had the HAI pump (we are with Dr. K at MSK) removed at the five year mark because, well, I did not feel comfortable removing just in case (I am NOT a risk taker) so mom did not have it removed. She had it oiled on schedule the past 7 years just in case. So when it came back we all held our breath to see if it still worked. It did! So she went on pump chemo and systemic chemo over the summer. Obviously she kept her eye on the prize..Disney in August. My Oldest was 5 when she was diagnosed and he was turning 17 a few months after the Disney trip. Mymom was not missing this trip with her three grand children. So as my mom has done in the past (2012...if anyone remembers) she worked with Dr. K and since she was responding they gave her light chemo right before the trip so my mom could spend 12 days in Florida at Disney. So she missed the first day of our trip (we went ahead), they packed up the car, headed into MSK from CT, she got chemo and then straight from chemo they drove the 23 hours down to Orlando. Straight through....did what they do....slept in a rest stop. Mom arrived and hit the parks (Disney/Universal) for over a week. She loved expedition everest until she realized it goes backwards (best video ever). We had a fantastic time.
She continued chemo with a target date for surgery or ablation November 2022. But beginning of November she had a bad chemo reaction and was hospitalized for a week at MSK. Went home on oxygen. Enjoyed the holidays. She has had very light to little chemo since November. However, her last scan was yesterday (MRI, PET and CT scan) and it is still the one tumor and since end of year it appears inactive. It is nowhere else.
They are leaving MSK now and have the go ahead for a Feb 22, 2023 ablation. Surgery was taken off the table after her bought with pneumonia stemming from chemo reaction. There is a 10 percent success rate differential between surgery and ablation since it is near a vein. They have to get clean margins and if ablation does not work it makes surgery then more difficult. But her success rate is still 85% as opposed to 95% success rate. Still good odds. Given her age she is not 76 as of September (and yes road all the coasters at 75). Last ablation she was NED for almost 7 years....it being so near a vein complicates things. But since tumor has been appearing inactive for several months we shall see.
We all just booked our Atlantis Bahamas trip with them for July so she has things to do and places to go.
She is my hero and is the definition of hope.
Thinking positive.
I think about you all always.
Will stay in touch.
Lisa