anyone else been thru this process...????

[Guest guest]

My relative had colon resection in 12/02 and rec'd 5fu/leuco 6cycles

in early 2003. then 10/03 bowel obstruct led to cat scan revealing

tumors in liver.... oxi and xeloda 6cylces.... tumors shrank ... now

we see surgeon who recommends opening up the abdomen and seeing what

is going on.... seeing another surgeon next week to get their opinion

and get a PET done and other work-up.... other than frustation and

depression of not being free of this damn disease my relative is

doing fine..... any recommendations... we live in DC area...

thanks ......

[Guest guest]

I would go with the 2nd opinion and would definitely want as the Pet Scan. My

husband just finished his 6th round of 5FU Leuc. Oxi . He has done pretty

well but still has many liver mets. The oncologist advised against surgery

fearing that while it might solve some of the cancer it might wind up spreading

the

mets.

This would be my concern with your relative. If the tests are clean it may be

the best choice but don't make the decision without a 2nd opinion. Being

originally from MD

(Silver Spring, near Holy Cross hospital), my vote would be Hopkins.

I've been gone over 20 years though so maybe Priscilla could give you other

ideas.

Narice

[Guest guest]

I would go with the 2nd opinion and would definitely want as the Pet Scan. My

husband just finished his 6th round of 5FU Leuc. Oxi . He has done pretty

well but still has many liver mets. The oncologist advised against surgery

fearing that while it might solve some of the cancer it might wind up spreading

the

mets.

This would be my concern with your relative. If the tests are clean it may be

the best choice but don't make the decision without a 2nd opinion. Being

originally from MD

(Silver Spring, near Holy Cross hospital), my vote would be Hopkins.

I've been gone over 20 years though so maybe Priscilla could give you other

ideas.

Narice

[Guest guest]

The reality is that advanced colorectal cancer is horrible thing in

that it will not progress or egress the same in any two people so

the process will be slightly different for everybody, I venture to

say. From what I know from my experience (similar in that I had a

rectal resection and liver stuff, but the liver stuff was found

during rectal resection instead of a year later), it sounds actually

like it could be a good thing (removing cancer, if possible, is

generally, from what I've seen, more curative than chemically

treating it); generally, they will not open one up unless they think

that there is a good chance of finding cancer that is finite and

contained - and therefore removeable - there are too many good

imaging technologies available these days to justify exploratory

surgery; extensive metastasis or diffuse tumors also suggest that

the benefits of surgery are not worth the damage or required

recovery.

That being said, my surgeons stated that they will not do surgery

until a round of diagnostics are first completed that include CEA

levels, an MRI of the area in question, and a PET Scan. I would

think in your cousins case it would be appropriate to ensure that

they would do the same to make sure that the finite and contained

rule applies.

Hope this helps - Joe