Colon cancer

CW · Guest

Hi-My father in law was diagnosed with colon cancer in June. He had surgery to remove the tumor but more was found in lymph nodes and 2 small spots on liver. He recently developed blood clots and was hospitalized to treat that. During this time he had another CAT scan showing there are now 7 lesions on liver. His Dr has said that if this Chemo (Erbitux) doesn't work, then that's it, no other treatments available. Isn't it too soon to make that call? What would you recommend. He is only 60 and in otherwise excellent health.

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

CW

From the information you gave me, your father has metastatic colon cancer. Different specialists will give you different options. They will have diverging opinions. It is very difficult to know the best path, but medical Oncology is a difficult specialty, with a very fine line between offering or not different strategies. A lot of it is how confident a given doctor is in its treatment, and what past experiences this person may have had with it. My opinion is to have doctors explain why they are not offering other options. In their opinion, they might think that giving treatment X may create so many side-effects and potential disasters that they'd rather not do more harm.

regards,
Leo

Walter · Guest

I am 71 with stage 4 rectal cancer. I was dx exed about 2years ago. I have had chemo ( CI 5FU) with radiation and a few months more of chemo. The scans after showed mets on my liver and lungs. I was referred to a teaching hospital, Mass General, for a liver resection. At this time we are deciding what to do about the lung mets. I expect we will try CI 5fu for a cycle and and and then review the results. The Onc that I have reviews many of his cases with an Onc at Mass. Gen. so there is a second opinion for what to do when. We also have a good patient Doctor relationship. That is very important.

CW · Guest

Thanks for the info. My father in law recently saw another doctor who mentioned the possibility of RFA (?). What do you know about that procedure?

Walter · Guest

I forgot to include in my prior message that I had laproscopic surgery to remove the primary tumor. The chemo and radiation was after surgery. I have included a link for RFA info.

http://search.partners.org/mghQuery.html?qt=RFA&qs=&qp=&col=mgh&qc=&ws=0&qm=0&st=1&nh=10&lk=1&rf=0&oq=&rq=0&submit=+search+

CW · Guest

Thank you, Walter. My prayers are with you. It sounds like you are getting really good care. It seems like that would make a difference for us.
Cheryl

Walter · Guest

Perhaps we should chat on the phone. I am a one finger typist thus it takes me a long time to write. If you wish you may send me mail at celeste7l@cs.com and I will reply and send you my phone number.

janie · Guest

[quote="CW"]Hi-My father in law was diagnosed with colon cancer in June. He had surgery to remove the tumor but more was found in lymph nodes and 2 small spots on liver. He recently developed blood clots and was hospitalized to treat that. During this time he had another CAT scan showing there are now 7 lesions on liver. His Dr has said that if this Chemo (Erbitux) doesn't work, then that's it, no other treatments available. Isn't it too soon to make that call? What would you recommend. He is only 60 and in otherwise excellent health.[/quote]

i think i am responding to the wrong place because i have a questiion- my mom has sage 3 colon cancer, had congestive heart failure-- she had a resection of her colon in dec but no chemo as the oncologist said her heart was too weak....it has spread to lymph glands- what should we expect? can she live still? i mean how long will she live? anyhelp to my mom and me would be so very much appreciated, janie jkwillhide@excite.com

greg · New User Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 1

My Grandmother was diagnosed in Aug 2004 with stage 4 colon cancer she under went surgery which the doctor said he did not get all of the tumor. She has just completed 7 / 22 hour treatments of chemo and is now to be taking another treatment of some kind in the doctors office once per week. Her weight still seems to be going up and down. The doctors wont tell any of us anything. Including my Grandfather. My grandmother is deaf and is unable to hear what is being said. After the surgery the doctor had said she had 6 months give or take 60 days it is almost march. What can we expect now?

	Cancer Forums Forum Index -> Colon Cancer and Rectal Cancer Forum	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

A website for discussions about any type of cancer, including lung cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, prostate cancer, laryngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and others