Yesterday we went down to the Royal Free, London, to get Dad's latest MRI results which would tell us if he could have a resection. After a few months of having PVE's to try and enlarge the liver (already small due to naturally having a small liver) to give it enough volume/function, we were told that the latest PVE had enlarged the liver, but not enough. First bit of bad news. However, the Dr then said that Dads liver volume was borderline ok, only just not enough. Apparently, the liver volume needs to be around 500 something to have a resection, and Dads is around 400 and something-I can't remember the exact number, so borderline. The Dr then said that he was willing to do the resection, but only if it is what Dad really wants. This is because it would be a much more riskier operation, than the bog standard liver resection. He would be able to get through the actual operation, but things would turn life-threatening if he gets an infection or has a bleed. Also, its risky because if the Dr takes too much liver out, his whole liver may fail suddenly, then we would have no dad. However, this last risk, I don't think I'm too worried about because the Dr knows everything about dads levels, and so should know how far to go. Also, I'm reassured by the fact that he said that as dad's body has already taught itself how to regenerate (expand) the liver already through the pve's, so I'm hoping that if he does go through with it, his body can cope. Moral of this blog post: we are in a shit situation...we have been offered life extending surgery which has the potential to rid Dad's liver of cancer, but with a huge risk-death at worst from infection/bleed/liver failure. Needless to say, we are all a bit devastated at the moment, and tears have been shed. Next step is Dr Sharma has order a lung CT scan so he can look down on to the top of the liver, to see if there is some volume the MRI's didn't show up, and also to see if there is any cancer growing back. Apparently, the rush of hormones the body creates when it tries to regenerate the liver can actually cause the cancer to grow back-more encouraging news (not) but then the doc said that this may be unlikely to happen with dad, as his body has had this rush of hormones twice...its all a bit of a gamble.
I'm hoping that this resection can go ahead...the thought of Dad having all the nasty crap out of his body brings me a sense of calm, and I'm sure he will too. However, its up to Dad, but either way I'm shit scared now. I'm just hoping that the medical teams involved will be pre-pre-pre-prepared as it would be such a high risk op. Also, if anyone has been in the same position as us, please PM me-Dad is really struggling now, and we need some hope that this can work- we all just feel so lost.
Sorry for rambling on...there is still loads I can say, but just trying to give you the jist of how we feel. Good luck to everyone here, whether patient/carer, and keep fighting!
Claire
xxx
