Husband unable to have liver surgery

Hi , 

Can I ask how many rounds of chemo he had before this scan and did he get any shrinkage ? Are they looking for more shrinkage and review him ?

Just wondering what they propose the next step to be . My mum got enough shrinkage away from a main blood vessel but took around six months worth of chemo . She had her resection at Edinburgh. Did they advise to look at other options ?

Take care ,

Court 

Hi Court, 

He had 4 cycles of capox (3 months altogether) and had a partial response, so most of the tumours shrank but not all of them. The surgery team said to go back to the oncologist and see what they advice, which I'm guessing will be further chemo. 

They didn't seem very hopeful so it was very disheartening. But they said that they'll be happy to review his scans if there's more shrinkage. Its been a bad day x

Hi ,

And four cycles is all he has ever had ? He also got some shrinkage out of that which is a good thing . My mum was two years into treatment before getting her big surgery on her liver . She had more cycles too! 
I think these meetings are incredible hard and we have had a few ! I am a big advocate of second opinions . It helps you focus on what is the right approach for each person . Also let’s you know about all the options . Depends if you want a surgical review or an oncologist review .

Plenty of time to work out the best approach .

Take care ,

Court 

Thank you so much for replying, it's so good to talk to someone who has been through something so similar. 

These days are the absolute worst. I've been so positive and it's really knocked me back.

Yes 4 cycles is all he has ever had, he was diagnosed in late June this year after emergency surgery (doctors thought his appendix had burst but it was a perforated bowel). Your reply puts his treatment into perspective, I guess we all hope for a quick fix and with cancer, nothing is really quick enough is it.

I guess we should wait to speak to the oncologist and see what he says. 

How many cycles of chemo did your mum have before the liver surgery, and which chemo regime was it? 

Thanks, 

Lorna x

My mum was on xeloda . She had six cycles then wedge resections in her liver . That did not work and she immediately had a recurrence. I can’t quite remember but I know one was through the resection margin and I think another four popped up around 1 cm . It was a horrible blow . Again inoperable and back to chemo . That was a tough one but in my mind she responded once so it could happen again . Plus there was less of a tumour load for the chemo to work on .compared to the year before . She had six More cycles of chemo. Another response and this time we went to Edinburgh and there was enough margin to go with . It had shrunk away from the blood supply !

It was a tough , tough time . One step forward , two back . I think some people get there quickly but as someone else said there is often more than one step to NED ( no evidence of disease) . That certainly was the long and often winding road my mum had to go on . 

Maybe a bit of a chat with his oncologist would help see the way forward for him . 
Take care ,

Court 

Ps . She had Oxy too ! Big brute of a drug for her !! 

Thank you, this is really useful xx