6 weeks after surgery
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JennyLou, my recovery following surgery was pretty uneventful and pain free. I was sent home with an Rx for morphine tabs, of which I used two the first few nights to make sure I slept OK. I did end up with a few infected incision areas, which took a long time to heal because I had six months of Gemzar following surgery. The chemo stopped new cells in their tracks. For me, surviving the surgery was the big part.
Good luck to your Dad.
Congratulations! I am so encouraged to hear of your clean bill of health!
How have you find the recovery after your surgery?
My Dad is currently waiting for surgery and his surgeon is quite optimistic they will be able to operate and achieve negative margins. He’s currently got two bile drains in, in order to reduce his bilirubin levels back to a normal range. Surgery looks to be about two weeks away, they are taking approx. 70 – 80% of his liver, the full left lobe and part of the right.
Can you offer any advice?
Although, always a difficult decision to make once done we can let go of it and move on to other things. Congratulations and best wishes on the upcoming scans.
MarionHi all,
Thanks for all the info. I’m feeling more confident with my oncologists decision now that I have heard from people who have been there! I will have cat scans and blood work every three months for the next two years, every six months for three years after that, then once a year from then on to make sure the cancer doesn’t return.
fabyke
I had the same, left hepatic lobe resection, clean margins and the final pathology report was clean as well. My lovely cardiologist said “I want you to see an oncologist”. OK, did that. The oncologist, another lovely lady read the final path report somewhat differently than the surgeon. The pathologist had noted that some of the removed tissue was particularly aggressive. She said, if any of that material got loose during surgery, it could be bad. So she ordered six months of Gemzar, to start about two months after surgery. The downside of the chemo was I got no regrowth of the liver. That was about two years ago and so far, still clean.
From what I’ve casually observed, there’s no clear protocol for CC treatment. The oncologist pointed out when she ordered Gemzar, that there’s no clear evidence it’s effective against CC. For us as patients, you just have to trust the judgment of the professionals and not get too worked up when you see different protocols than yours that appear effective.
Welcome, Fabyke! I am four years post resection with clear margins and I had no chemo after surgery. My doc simply said that there was nothing for the chemo to attack. Let’s hope it stays that way!!! Congrats!
Sue
Fabyke…Following the others I would also like to welcome you to our site. Congratulations on a successful surgery. How is your recovery coming along?
Regarding adjuvant chemotherapy: you might also want to consider consultations with a few physicians treating this disease. Specialists vary with their opinions and you may still end up feeling confused however, it is worth the extra effort.
All my best wishes,
MarionHi Fabyke,
Welcome to the site. And thank you so much for sharing your story and also congratulations on a successful outcome. As lainy has said to you, if you use the search funtion here then you can look for similar stories and I know that the search forum function will throw up lots of discussions that will be useful to you. Please keep coming back here and let us know how you are doing, and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Best wishes,
Gavin
Fabyke,
I had a similar story as you, but one of my margins was close so they opted chemo for me. According to the national guidelines for CC clean resection with no lymph node involvement it is routine to not do chemo and continue with follow-up CT scans and labs. Congrats on your successful resection!
ShariHi betsy,
Congrats on two year cancer free!!!!Thanks so much for your story,I was nervous about no chemo. Your story has given me confidence in the no chemo route.
Fabyke
Hi Fabyke,
I had clear margins, no lymph node involvement, had not spread to any other organs and my oncologist also said no to chemo. I’m a little over 2 years from my resection and still cancer-free. It is hard to know what to do – I could have pushed harder for chemo but I had been through so much already, I was relieved to skip it.
Betsy
Hello fabyke and welcome to our wonderful family. First let me say CONGRATULATIONS on such a successful surgery. The age old question of to chemo or not to chemo. It is a huge and personal decision. We have had many a thread on that one. If you go to the top of the page to our search button and type in chemo or not, I am sure many posts will pop up and you can then see what others feel. Where did you have your surgery, I know others would be interested to know. Wishing you continued great success.
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