Ablation tomorrow
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Marion…and anyone else reading this who might be interested: I ended up have some chills last night in the early evening…and ran a small temp…100.2….and discomfort/pain started in the general area of the ablation. It hurt in the ablation area to breathe deeply or even just a burp would make it hurt. I got a pain in my shoulder as well, which was something they mentoned, but it was one kind of pain/ache and was gone. The discomfort in the ablation area continued overnight and it was difficult to lie in bed except flat on my back. I took Tylenol last night and again this morning…..and even though that has worn off, it has been feeling better….not totally good yet, but better. I’ve spent the day in the recliner…..not doing anything. Drives me crazy to just sit here…but will do it.
Julile
Julie….compared to surgery this procedure was significantly easier. Nevertheless, it is invasive and your body is telling you to rest. Glad you are taking it to heart. Talk soon.
Hugs,
MarionI forgot to add that I was given a 10 day course of antibiotics to ward off a possible abscess in the liver as a result of the ablation. (This is part of the preventative treatment). The antibiotic is
cipro, which has a reputation for causing problems with ruptured tendons, etc. as well as a host of other nasty side effects. I was very hesitant to continue taking that particular drug when I found out exactlhy what it was, but I was being dismissed at the time and in line at the pharmacy. I don’t know if there is another drug they could use instead……we just left and I guess hoping for the best. I am going to talk with my GP about it on Monday and see if she can check into it for me. However, at that point, I will be half way through the treatment course of the antibiotic, so I don’t know if it will really do much good to change to something else at that point.Julie
Marion, Yes, I am going to take it easier for a while now that i am home. It was a 3-4 hour ride home with the stop for lunch, and then we went out for supper with friends. I am now very tired. I didn’t sleep all that well last night…..bed was a little on the hard side and I didn’t sleep much the night before going into the hospital because we had to be up at 4 a.m. to get to the hospital on time. Even though I have no pain, I can tell that my energy level was also zapped as well…..it doesn’t take much moving around to make me feel worn out. So, I shall cuddle in my jammies this evening and watch tv in bed after i finish my messages and get my meds. I’m ready to crash in my own bed.
))Julie.. …so thrilled to know that everything went exceptionally well. Promise to take it easy. The oncology problem will disappear as easily as those pesky little tumors.
Hugs,
MarionThe microwave ablation of the 1.1cm tumor on Wednesday was very successful. The IR doctor exuded confidence and I just can’t say enough about the whole experience. After having two resections, from both of which I recovered relatively fast (4 days and 1 day) to be dismissed to go home, but with a healing period with pain management, with the ablation, I did not have any pain once I woke up from anessthesia and have not at this point, now two days out. They wanted me in the hospital overnight for observation and then released me Thursday late afternoon. We stayed in town Rochester to have dinner with a cousin who lives there and just chill out for a while before driving home today. I am to lay low for several days….nothing strenuous …no lifting more than a milk jug of weight. The actual incision looks more like a short little scratch…..no stitches….not even a bandaid now, .and I’m just not to submerge in water, but I can let water run over it in the shower for several more days until it heals. All I can say is that the whole experience was remarkable and nothing short of miraculous.
The MRI that was done as a follow up on Thursday morning showed that they did indeed get the entire tumor as well as a margin area around the tumor as planned. The whole procedure went so well that Dr. Smitz said it only took them two hours instead of the possible 3-4. The MRI didn’t show any other tumors on the horizon, so for now, I am NED (no evidence of disease) again.
FYI…ablation can be done on larger tumors as well…..though typically they say no larger than 3 cm, that is changing and larger ones are being done. There are times when surgery is still preferable, but when ablation is possible….oh my…..what a difference.
It feels very weird to be home…..to know the tumor is gone….and I don’t hurt somewhere. So, I collect my three months again until the next scans., probably in December. We still have to get our problems with the oncologists cleared up, but for now, it’s good to be home.
Julie….thinking of you and sending tons of hugs your way. Can’t await to hear from you post procedure.
Marion
I am currently up in Rochester, MN , at Mayo Clinic. Today, I met with an Interventional Radiologist who has me scheduled for a very early morning ablation of a 1.1 cm tumor in my right liver lobe tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. This is the second recurrence of my ICC that was originally diagnosed in Jan of 2014. I had the first resection for a 5 cm tumor in my left lobe, then followed by 6 rounds of Gem/Cis. All was well until Nov of 2015 (almost 2 years from the first resection in Feb of 2014). At that time, scans showed a 1.5 cm tumor along the previous resection line. It was again operable and was resected in Dec of 2015. Then, came July 2016, when a 1.1 cm tumor appeared in my right lobe . Because of the location and small size, we are doing an ablation of this tumor to spare as much liver as possible rather than a resection.
Initially, in July, the oncologist only offered FOLFOX chemo and when we asked about resecting it or ablating it….he didn’t want to “Put you through that only to have it come back again.” We realized on the way home, that it was likely he had never consulted with my surgeon. So, we made our own consult appt with the surgeon, who confirmed that this was either operable or could be ablated, but the latter made more sense. What we got from the surgeon is that the recurrence pattern of my cancer seems to be a single tumor at a time and fairly long between occurences that it made sense to just keep mopping up these tumors with surgery or ablation as long as possible…and stay healthy in the meantime.
We had issues with oncology again only offering FOLFOX and really talking down the safety of ablation. I’ve done a lot of reading on it and while there are risks for everything…..the small size of this tumor reduces some of what is already a very small risk and that was confirmed by radiology today.
Also in question from the July scans, was an area along the resection line on the left lobe that was “worrisome” for malignancy…..in other words….a possible second recurrence location. The surgeon and an oncology expert both have indicated that they did not think it was malignant, but couldn’t be 100% certain. The radiologist today said pretty emphatically that he did not believe it was cancer either. We had asked if they would do a biopsy of the area in question tommorrow as well….however, he was pretty sure of his assessment…and it was possible that if they did a biopsy, it might show negative when it really had cancer cells in another part. The major overriding factor in deciding not to biopsy that “sort of” suspicious area was because it is near a loop of bowel and in a somewhat difficult area to reach. They could possibly cause some damage for what might be very little , if any, knowledge gained. It’s not likely to be cancer….and the best course of action is to leave it alone until or unless it shows itself to be something different.
We are going to get a biopsy of the tumor in the right lobe…..where there is a total agreement that the tumor is a malignancy. The biopsy is to have a sample to send off to Foundation One to have DNA sequencing done. Then, they will proceed with the ablation of the tumor. Originally, I was told it would be Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA), but today I was told it would probably be Microwave Ablation because of the size being so small. They are very confident of killing this tumor and that if any others come up, they can hopefully continue to zap them or do surgery to keep this under control for as long as possible………(if it stays away from important structures).
The attitude in Interventional Radiology was totally different than what Oncology was indicating. While there are risks, the risks are very small. I feel very confident that the ablation is the right thing to do and the IR people seem to be extremely confident that this is an easy one.
I will be under general anesthesia for the procedure and it will take about 3 hours (mostly set up time). After an overnight stay in the hospital, I will have a 6:15 wake up call for an MRI to serve as a baseline for the future and to make sure that they got all of the tumor. (This is somewhat of a formality). They asked that we stay in town an extra night (Thursday) if possible to just make absolutely sure all is well….and then we go back home. I “may” or may not have some abdominal discomfort, but will have pain meds to take care of that if it happens. The IR people expect me to feel fine again in a day or two. They will send me home with a 10 day course of antibiotics to discourage an abscess from forming.
I’ve had to fight to get this Ablation done….but right now, that is all that is important…getting it done and moving on. We’ll figure out oncology later.
Hope the above description might help someone.
Julie T.
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