So my Dad was diagnosed in March of rectal cancer with spread to liver . He was deemed ‘borderline operable’. They told us their focus is on the liver so the aim is to shrink mets with chemo for a possible liver resection.
He is still on his journey but has had 4 rounds of Capox which he has tolerated well. Hes had his scans which have shown shrinkage of both primary and liver mets.
We are now waiting for the plan of action wether it be more Chemo or surgery.
Please discuss with the oncologist the heart related issue you can get from the chemo for the liver shrinkage before going into surgery. I say that because they do not warn you it can weaken the heart capillaries and compromise the heart which happened to me during surgery resulting in what was first told to me (wrongly) was a secondary heart attack - it was infact an fast artrial fibrilation and a direct result of the chemo I had to shrink a 16mm tumour on the liver which was near the hepatic vein.
Hi Perfavore, I'm awaiting a decision about surgery vs ablation- I'm in my early 40s, I've had my heart checked a few times during chemo as part of a study the hospital are doing but no one has mentioned this side effects and it might be a factor in decision making. Did you have this while you were being operated on? it sounds scary!
That's the "big guns", I was on that which got me to a liver op. It's a tough regime but can be very effective. I would say the Onc has got your husbands back.
He'll be in hospital for a good few hours, I usually take my kindle and headphones and watch downloads. The Ox part is Oxaliplatin which can cause a pins and needles type feeling when you touch something cold, it goes as soon as they warm up so i pop them under a warm tap or hot water bottle, also keep gloves near the fridge. They have all sorts of medication for side effects so make sure he let's his team know, don't suffer, if the anti sickness aren't working, there are stronger ones.
I'm currently on this and I would echo that just speak to the team about the support meds if he does have any side effects. I'm on cycle 6 now and I'm starting to feel nauseas more but I have tablets I can take if I do. They give you stuff to take if your stomach is upset and it does work. I've taken it a couple of times. Otherwise touch wood I have found it okay. I have some tingling in my fingers and toes (but I'd already had Oxi on another regime before this one so it's built up more in my system) and you do have days when you're really hungry from the steroids then other days when you're less hungry but I just try to eat regularly and on the days when I'm less hungry just have something plain. They have to warn you about everything so you're prepared but hopefully he/ you'll both find it not too bad
