As always I return to this board for advise (for which we are truly grateful).

Hubby was scheduled for ultra low anterior resecetion on 1st August, unfortunately, when the colectral surgeon went in, he assessed that the tumour was stuck to the wall of the bowel and it was not in hubby's best interests to continue so he elected to not continue.

Hubby now has a permanant colostomy bag (which he can live with ......he says he has grown accustomed to his bum bag ....gotta love his sense of humour :bouncing:

The surgeon told us that the there was no change to the liver (after 6 weeks of chemo) and that the mets remain.

He is home now and resting until we go back to the onc. any suggestions as to what questions to ask the onc would be very much appreciated.

Thank you as always for your comforting and informative suggestions and advise

Maria_z :)

Hi maria

That news must have been such a blow to you both. Do you know anything else as to why they would not remove the primary tumor? You say he said it was not in hubbys best interests but was this due to the capabilities of the surgeon? Could another specialist colo-rectal surgeon perform the resection? I think I would be banging on someones door about that one maria.

As for the liver and chemo. I cannot remember what type of chemo your husband is/was on (sorry). There are other types of chemo that may be worth investigating. My husbands was Oxaliplatin/5fu/leucrovin which he had for 6 cycles over 3 months. This shrank his previously un-resectable liver tumors down enough to allow a resection. Please push for more options.

They will not resect the liver until the primary cancer is taken care of but because he already has mets you need to be adament and pushy and loud about finding out what they will do for him.

sorry this post seems not very comforting ........ but hopefully helpfull

take care
ktee

ktee

On the contrary your post was very comforting. The surgeon said he did not remove the tumour because and I quote " I did not remove the tumour because it was stuck to the bowel wall and also because it's a mess in there" unquote.

We have an appointment with the onc on 29th August and I will definitely be jumping up and down and asking for answers. As for hubby he has been amazing ........his strength through all of this floors me, although he did break down today .......and to be honest I don't know how to help him.....sometimes I just don't know what to do to help him.

One thing I do know is I won't sit back and take what the doctors say as gospel....this room has taught me that.

I don't often do many posts....but I do sit and read a lot of them ......and they comfort me a lot.

Thanks for your input as always it's much appreciated.

Maria_z xxxx

Maria:
I wholeheartedly agree with Ktee... go knock down another door... much more reputable with better skilled surgeons. What rectal tumors are NOT stuck to the wall??? And I've never seen a "pretty" case of colorectal cancer. This is definitely an example of surgeon talent. You NEED to take him elsewhere.

I am glad he is adjusting to the colostomy, but that primary tumor AND the mets need to go.

Best of luck.

Regardsm
CDad

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

Maria,
I think I am in the same boat as you are. My mother has advanced colon cancer and the surgeon who repaired her ruptured colon said that the tumor needs to come out. The hospital admin would not let him do the operation. She was transfered to another hopsital and the Onocologist doctor does not want to remove it. That doctor says that she only has about two more years with treatment. With the treatment being concentrated on the liver. I am at a loss on how to help. What questions should I be asking the doctor? He wants to meet with the family to discuss her treatment options. Any ideas?

Dear sue

My mum was daig with bowel cancer Feb 03. She was 77 and had a whole host of other illnesses and deseases that made it difficult to treat her. However, the tumor had to come out as it was almost blocking her bowel so they performed surgery april 03. She recovered really really well with exception of testing positive for MRSA (but not presenting any symptoms). Sorry im rambling but my point is that she also had mets to her liver. BUT they would not even consider looking at treating the mets until the primary cancer area was taken care of by resection.

Sometimes doctors will try and take the easy route and make the suggestion to an elderly patient that there lifespan is limited and quality may be affected. I can assure you that my mum lived a good and full life after her resection for another 16 months. She could only tolerate 2 cycles of chemo for her mets but she did try and the doctors tried for her too.

My advice to you Sue would be to demand that they produce a treatment plan regarding her colon AND mets and when you have got that make sure you ask for an alternative plan too so you can make some compairisons. If you have the luxury of time, which by the time diagnosis comes many do not have, you can try for a second opinion but i think you really need to accellerate her treatment so that she is not in discomfort from the primary tumor.

Hope the above helps
good luck with the doctors
ktee

p.s. I just reread your post and I dont understand why they did a repair without taking out the tumor too. This means putting her through another surgery!!!!!

sue71 I'm sorry to hear about your mum. We have decided to go to our GP who originally referred my husband to the colocteral surgeon for futher advice.

Unfortunately, our GP who we had been seeing for over 20 years retired about 3 years ago and since that time neither my husband nor myself have needed to visit a GP so we don't really have an established relationship with our GP (who came highly recommended by my sister). I have rung the GP and the onc and colectoral surgeon have sent him regular updates as to my husbands treatment and outcomes and he is more than happy to go through them with us and clear up any issues we may have (poor bugger doesn't realise how long he will be tied up with us for).

I am hoping that things were cleared up for you when you visited your local GP. I would appreciate any advice you could give us as to your experience after visiting your GP and what sort of treatment options they came up with.

Take Care
Maria_z :wave:

I appreciate everyones help. My mom is opting for agressive treatment, radiation & chemo at the same time. Chemo for the liver and radiation for the colon. I think the dr called it 4fu. She will have a pump around her waist that will give her a constant dose of chemo 24 hrs / day for 5 days a week and also localized radiation on the colon. The dr showed me her ct scan and the cancer has spread through out her liver (covering 30% of it). If it was just in one area the dr said that he could remove it. I have confidence that the dr knows what he is doing. I just wish that my mom would have gone to the dr alot earlier. She was afraid to know for sure that she had cancer. Her sister died of breast cancer Nov of last year after a coragous 11 year battle. I guess I can't blame her. I have been through my own cancer scare not once but twice. Both turned out to be negative. I will try to keep in touch and let everyone know how my mom's treatments are going.

Thanks again.
Sue

I appreciate everyones help. My mom is opting for agressive treatment, radiation & chemo at the same time. Chemo for the liver and radiation for the colon. I think the dr called it 4fu. She will have a pump around her waist that will give her a constant dose of chemo 24 hrs / day for 5 days a week and also localized radiation on the colon. The dr showed me her ct scan and the cancer has spread through out her liver (covering 30% of it). If it was just in one area the dr said that he could remove it. I have confidence that the dr knows what he is doing. I just wish that my mom would have gone to the dr alot earlier. She was afraid to know for sure that she had cancer. Her sister died of breast cancer Nov of last year after a coragous 11 year battle. I guess I can't blame her. I have been through my own cancer scare not once but twice. Both turned out to be negative. I will try to keep in touch and let everyone know how my mom's treatments are going.

Thanks again.
Sue

Dear Sue
It is great that your mum is going to do battle with the cancer. I think it is common for radiotherapy to be in conjunction with chemo (5fu), i know this is what my husband had. He also had previous to that, 3 months of chemo (Oxaliplatin/5fu/leucrovin) which shrank his liver tumors to the extent that he could have a liver resection. His met were in both lobes of his liver and he had nearly 70% of the liver taken out. It grows back. I might be an idea to clarify with you mum exactly what type of chemo she is having with the radioT and then what happens next. I believe it is important to keep the ball rolling and really really important to do something about the liver mets to either remove them, shrink them or stop them growing any further (in that order of preference).

btw, when husband had his liver resection there were a few others in there too, most of whom i would put at over 60 (husband was 45). They all seemed to recover well and most patients are home by day 7. (it was an old fashioned british ward with a long row of beds on either side. they nicknamed their section "the offal ward")

It is really important too to make sure you see a colo-rectal specialist, an oncology specialist and a liver specialist and that they communicate as a team. Dont rely on your GP (in fact we kept ours informed of what was happening , not vice versa).


good luck for your mum
ktee

hmmmm... I have to have a PET scan on my liver. The ct scan showed a spot and they want to make sure it isnt cancer, but if it is, then they will remove it. Ktee thanks for the info on how long I will be in if it is indeed a cancer in my liver.
Fingers crossed it isnt...
Maz

hmmmm... I have to have a PET scan on my liver. The ct scan showed a spot and they want to make sure it isnt cancer, but if it is, then they will remove it. Ktee thanks for the info on how long I will be in if it is indeed a cancer in my liver.
Fingers crossed it isnt...
Maz

Dear Maz

Husband brushes away the fact that he had major surgery on his liver with a mere shrug of the shoulders. It is a v.difficult op none the less but he says whilst he felt weaker after that op ,bearing in mind he was down to less than 10 stones (144 lbs) from over 14 stones , and he did have complication with a drain that would not stop draining, he felt physically more strong. I think its because of the site of the op...... with the big vertical cut for bowel resection and all those staples he found it difficult to straighten up and seemed to have hunched shoulders for months. But with the liver resection, even though the scar was bigger in terms of inches of stitches he felt more active more quickly.

Anyhow, i wish you big luck with your pet scan. Husband has his liver tests on 1st sept. It seems to have crept up on us. i think after this check up he will see his liver surgeon only once per year. I find that so frightening cos a lot can happen in a year. but it is now nearly 2 years since his liver resection ...... not bad eh?

good luck
ktee

p.s. i had all the family round for a big sunday lunch and the wine was flowing freely. husband had a skin full and i nagged him for it. his response was "my liver surgeon said i could drink what i liked cos 70% of my liver is new" ....... a typical male response i think ;) :jester:

p.p.s. Forgot to mention the cricket ........ the whole country seems to be buzzing about the ashes ........ whats the mood like down there ?