Colorectal cancer stage 4 lung metastasis - looking for advice

Hi my dad is 72 and recently diagnosed stage 4 colon cancer, tumour on sigmoid colon. He has liver and lung mets. He’s having palliative chemo which he started on this week and will have 6 cycles initially (chemo every fortnight). He’ll have a scan to see if they’ve managed to shrink or stabilise. So far he’s been ok, but very early days. It’s a lot to take in at first especially with all the information they tell you, side effects, etc. Good luck on your journey.

Hi GoldenLight

Sorry to read your news.  I hope I can help by sharing my experience.  My cancer journey started in 2024.  Bowel cancer stage 4, 10 liver mets on both lobes, both lungs with 4 mets.  Was told inoperable and incurable but treatable.

Following fortnightly chemo in July 2024 I was able to to have  open surgery and 9 Mets were removed.  7 were inactive due to chemo shrinkage.  I also had ablation on both lungs.

I am still on chemo as my remaining liver tumour in my caudate lobe is currently very active.

I guess the message is stay positive, there is hope.  The journey is difficult but you will feel better when you have a treatment plan and you can focus on that.  Take care and all the best.

Hi SquareBox

Thats positive news that you've come this far. Were the mets spread out on the lungs or were they localised on either side?

Yes the side effects of the chemotherapy from what I am hearing can be intolerable by some. Are they only just doing chemo or a combination with another therapy?

FOLFIRI chemo no targeted therapy as they said the biopsy results meant that targeted treatment would be ineffective. 

Hi GoldenLight 

Sorry to hear that and it does sound like you are still gathering information regarding the spread and cell type . My mum had a spread back in 2009 , initially in her liver and then to her lungs x

Her lung tumours behaved differently to her liver tumours . The liver was fast growing where the lungs can be typically slow growing . Her lung tumours showed up initially in 2016 . And she had a very successful lung resection and honestly was home two days later and back at it two weeks later . She had no noticeable changes to her lung function and they went through the side of her ribs .

She had a further spread to her lungs in 2023 , I think . She wax in her eighties by this time and just used a targeted biological agent . Which actually had a great response too .

Others use radio frequency ablation , chemo or target treatments or if your cell type is compatible immunotherapy . Which is having some great results . 
My mum ran out of strength not treatments and her heart was compromised but she got 15 years as a stage 4 patient .

Best foot forward as she used to say .

Court