impactzone
10-01-2006, 02:15 AM
For those who have been following, I am stage 4, had colectomy, moderately differentated 9/1 found 1 liver met with PET and CT. My CEA right now is 10. I went to UCSF and Stanford to get opinions. One said surgery right now the other said 3 months chemo then surgery.I have made a decision to go with the 3 month of treatment at Stanford using Xeloda, Eribitux and oxaplatin and then go for surgery. I based this difficult decision on the following factors:
1. The lesion is not located close to bile duct or artery and is still relatively small. The surgeon said he could get to it. I am getting a CT scan in 2 days and this should show growth. If it is fast then I will opt sooner for surgery
2. I would like to know if this chemo treatment has an effect on the tumor. If any response is shown to help allow for an educated treatment guess after surgery.
3. After any liver surgery, growth proteins are released by the body to repair the liver. These proteins potentially could get any micromets growing if they were not wiped out by the chemo.I have looked at some research and this is hard to measure but it does occur. I am a biochem major from UCSB so I can read some of this stuff.
4. I feel comfortable with the team approach at Stanford with both the onc and surgeon there so that if there is no change we can quickly go to surgery.
5. At 47 and healthy in all other ways, the 3 months on chemo will not hopefully wipe me out for surgery.
I know that this is a guess as most data and the medical boards shows resection immediately as the standard. I know my immediate reaction is to charge into the fight with the knife and cut, cut, cut as well. I do not know if this is the smartest option in the long run. Obviously, surgical resection is the only way for a possible positive outcome but the timing of it is the key. Stanford has seen some data that will be published on patients that seems to show that in Stage 4 patients with few mets, with chemo done early and then resection it is a successful path. Only time will tell and I hope that both paths lead to the same successful end.
All my love,
impactzone
1. The lesion is not located close to bile duct or artery and is still relatively small. The surgeon said he could get to it. I am getting a CT scan in 2 days and this should show growth. If it is fast then I will opt sooner for surgery
2. I would like to know if this chemo treatment has an effect on the tumor. If any response is shown to help allow for an educated treatment guess after surgery.
3. After any liver surgery, growth proteins are released by the body to repair the liver. These proteins potentially could get any micromets growing if they were not wiped out by the chemo.I have looked at some research and this is hard to measure but it does occur. I am a biochem major from UCSB so I can read some of this stuff.
4. I feel comfortable with the team approach at Stanford with both the onc and surgeon there so that if there is no change we can quickly go to surgery.
5. At 47 and healthy in all other ways, the 3 months on chemo will not hopefully wipe me out for surgery.
I know that this is a guess as most data and the medical boards shows resection immediately as the standard. I know my immediate reaction is to charge into the fight with the knife and cut, cut, cut as well. I do not know if this is the smartest option in the long run. Obviously, surgical resection is the only way for a possible positive outcome but the timing of it is the key. Stanford has seen some data that will be published on patients that seems to show that in Stage 4 patients with few mets, with chemo done early and then resection it is a successful path. Only time will tell and I hope that both paths lead to the same successful end.
All my love,
impactzone