3/15 6 days shy of 1 year with Cholangiocarcinoma – CLEAN SCAN

My 43 year old brother in law was diagnosed on March 21st, 2016 with Cholangiocarcinoma. This healthy man took himself to NYU’s ER with what we thought was appendix problems and an intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma was discovered. The surgical team at NYU said that surgery was not an option, The surgeons at Sloan Kettering said the same and THEN, we met Dr. Myron Schwartz at Mount Sinai. Upon studying my brother in law’s scans, Dr Schwartz said, “I can do surgery right now. But, I’d like to wait to see if the chemo gives me more room around the tumor.” Whew, words never sounded so sweet! Several months later, it became obvious that the gem/cis was not working to shrink the tumor, Dr. Schwartz performed his miracle. He removed 3 masses in total. The 1st scan post surgery showed two tiny lesions, it was unclear if the lesions were present pre-surgery. They were hit with chemoablation. One of the lesions died, one was missed. the 2nd lesion was successfully destroyed and 1 month later. And on March 15th – 4 months after his last chemo treatment — CLEAN SCAN!! This year has been horrible. Dealing with medical professionals that are anything but professional was awful. Finding Dr. Schwartz was the greatest gift our family has been given. Keeping all those affected by this awful disease in my prayers.