Gemcitabine with 5-FU Push

Best of luck Jeff! Hope it all goes OK.

I think you’re doing all the right things, and most importantly, you have a great attitude! At 37, you ARE too young to have to deal with this! And at 37, you have the best chances of beating this terrible disease. Please let us know how he progresses with the chemo – my own mother didn’t tolerate it well, but she’s 64 and extra-sensitive to all drugs, so I’m sure your husband will be different. I’m sure you’ll beat this thing – keep on fighting!!! – Best of luck to you — Joyce

Jeff, thanks for the info on the Dr. at Mayo. We do have surgery scheduled for Jan. 24 here at the James, but the Docs there know we are thinking about going somewhere else to get their opinion. We are leaning towards staying here though. They wanted to get him on the surgery schedule though, in case we stayed here. They only do surgeries on Wednesdays – I was kinda shocked at that. This big cancer hospital and only surgeries one day a week?

I am going to email this Doctor. I have Jack’s (husband) MRI report so I can type that to him.

Thank you so much for his info. I am truly grateful to all of you who are so willing to help and offer advice and info. With us just starting out this process, I feel so thankful for all of you.

Kris

Kris,
My husband was taken to OSU via ambulance in June after he passed out at the fairgrounds during a Farm Bureau meeting we were attending. We are not from Columbus and rarely ever went there but I feel it was a guardian angel or God himself that made my husband so sick at that time. We would have left one hour later and I don’t think he would have been here now if he hadn’t received care at OSU. He was so sick that they thought he was poisoned at first but within 2 days they had him diagnosed with CC. Our local hospital would not have known what was wrong and may have not placed stents and got things moving quickly enough. Even Dr. Bloomston and Martin were impressed at how quickly they diagnosed him. At first the medical Drs. were simply going to refer him to medical oncology and they never even talked about surgery, then my daughter in law became involved and got Dr. Martin to see my husband. He was still in the hospital in the Doan at the time and we were feeling very depressed and scared. My husband was very despondent and kept saying that he just wished someone could give him some hope and the next day Dr. Martin breezed in, told us that he had lots of tricks that they could do, that he had a patient that had received radiation treatments that he had seen that same morning and she was doing fine after four years. He proceeded to move him out of the zoo on Doan and into a beautiful private room in the James. We felt as though we had fallen through some rabbit hole like Alice and we were just being lead along some unknown path. I will forever be grateful to Dr. Martin for what he did for us. The difference in our outlook was like night and day. Of course after Dr. Bllomston was unable to do the resection we were on the downward cycle again but they did everything they could to continue to give us hope. Dr. Mayr was my husband’s radiation oncologist. She is very good. I don’t know what to tell you about the surgery. Dr. Bloomston did not say that it was possible that my husband wouldn’t make it out of surgery but he did say it would be very difficult. My husband is 59 and I know the Drs. want to give him as much time as possible but they tend to lean toward quality of life at his age maybe more than quantity. At your husbands age I know they want to give him as much time as possible and may be more willing to be more aggressive. I know they will do surgery if my husband wants to go through it all again but at this time I don’t know if he does. You can send your husbands scans to Pittsburgh and the Cleveland Clinic. They will look at them and tell you over the phone what they think without going there personally. At least you would have some thing to go on besides what the Drs. in Columbus say.I felt that they wrote my husband off in Cleveland, they weren’t interested in doing much but Pittsburgh did show some interest in his case. We just decided to go ahead with the brachytherapy and wait and see. I am going to contact them again though after his next MRI. I have read about Northwestern in Chicago too. They seem to do a lot of transplants and that wouldn’t be to far.Other than that I think Mayo may be your best hope. They are doing transplants for CC patients and with your husband being so young he may be a candidate You should check that out. They are actually having as much success with their transplant patients as resection patients as far as 5 year survival rates. Please let me know if I can help with anything. I know it is terribly confusing and scary. Take care. Mary

Kris – My husband Mike was diagnosed with cc in January 2006. We have a 13 year old daughter. Live every day as if it is your last, love each other, and make memories. We’ll hope and pray that your husband’s treatments are effective and that he will live to see your children grow up. I, too worry about the same things as you. I lost my own father when I was 8 years old and even though it is terribly difficult we do continue to live and eventually thrive. You are in my prayers. For all of those afflicted with cholangiocarcinoma, my prayer for 2007 is that a cure will be found. Happy New Year and May God Bless!

Jeff, thank you so much for your email. I am looking for all the help, support and info I can get. I think it’s amazing that in March it will be 8 years for you!! From everything I have been reading about this horrible cancer, that is quite amazing. That puts a smile on my face and hope in my heart.

My husband’s tumor is 5.8 cm X 5.5 cm so it’s big. Our Doctor here at the James at Ohio State said 9 out of 10 surgeons wouldn’t operate on him because of the size. He said he would though. We don’t know if it has spread from somewhere else yet. He is going for a colonoscopy and endoscopy next week. They will also check his lungs. Now we are just praying that it started in the duct and not somewhere else. They said he would have chemo and radiation after.

I have a 12 year old daughter and a 14 year old son. I don’t want them to have to grow up without their Dad. He is an awesome Dad and is very close to his kids. I don’t know how we would get through that. I am trying to think positively and I am making sure he is but it’s hard when you know what you know about this type of cancer.

Thank you again for your post. Take care.
Kris