Newby....many questions

filly1977 · New User Joined: 16 Jan 2008 Posts: 1 Location: USA

Helllo,

As my topic says I am the newby to this forum and I have questions in regards to my mother and her cancer. To give a little background, my mother was an alcoholic and quit drinking three years ago when she started to have problems. They told her at the time that she had cirrhosis of the liver and Hep C. She started to present symptoms (fluid buildup) and pain in her side. She was treated with the diretics and eventually was able to return to work and other regular activities. She has been ok for the most part up until the past year where she has not been able to control the fluid build up and has had to go a get drained several times, and also presented symptoms of delerium (being treated with Lactoluce), an jaundiced. She went to the UofM for a MRI in Oct of last year and they confirmed cancer of the liver. They first spotted the "mass" (as they called it) in August with a MRI here. The tumor is located in her right lobe and is only 2.5cm (as of October). She has been having significant pain (liver area) for the past few weeks and also having trouble getting rid of fluid again. She is scheduled for chemo next week and she continues to be very optimistic about beating this cancer. If she is able to beat the cancer, how long can a person live with no liver function or at least very little? She was taken off the transplant list because she lives alone and she refuses to move in with someone to be put back on it. She is 54 and other than this liver stuff is in generally good health. Please any advise would be helpful

cdj14 · New User Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 1

Dear Filly1977,
I am so sorry about your mom.
My mother in law was diagnosed with liver and lung cancer in November 2007. She too has cirrhosis. Because of the damage due to the cirrhosis, she is not a candidate for liver transplant or for removal of the tumor-which at time of diagnosis was <5cm. The tumor in her lung was smaller than that.
When a person has cirrhosis, surgery is not an option, we were told. I have done so much research about this. She also couldn't do any treatment for the lung cancer (chemo, etc) because of the worry of her liver failing because it wouldn't be able to safely filter the chemo. Cirrhosis changes everything unfortunately. She has an oncologist who wanted to "try" all of these treatments on her(which he admitted could send her into immediate liver failure!) but she opted to spend the rest of her time feeling as good as she could. Unfortunately for her, any treatments aren't going to buy her any time-just make her sick and she would spend almost every day going to the hospital to get them. A good website is medicinenet.com or the American Cancer Society also has a great website. We have Hospice coming in tomorrow. She was given 6 months back in November 2007. Everyone has been trying to spend as much time as we can with her. She is in good spirits and says she feels good. She seems to be sleeping a lot more now and has had a bout with plurisy. She does cough a lot. She is the sweetest person and I just feel so bad. You should definately do your research and don't let doctors talk you into anything that you're not comfortable with.

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