Hello, new member!!
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Hi Heather,
Welcome to the site. Sorry that you had to find us all here and I am sorry to hear about your husband. But I am glad that you’ve joined us all as you’re in the best place for support and help and you can expect a lot of both from everyone here.
Not much I can add to what has already been said to you but I wanted to welcome you here. Your husband is in good hands at MDA and yes, if I was in your shoes I would be excited that surgery is going to happen as for so many, my dad included surgery is not an option.
My fingers are crossed that the surgery goes well and please keep us updated on how everything goes. If we can help in any way then please just ask and we’ll do what we can. We are all here for you and we care.
My best wishes to you and your husband,
Gavin
Heather, I call that being realistically optimistic! You can now add our Board which has Members from all over the world as well. I can see the surgery room now, there will be so many of us in spirit the Surgeons may ask us to leave!
Yes there is also another dr that will help with the portal vein reconstruction and they said they only reason this surgery can be done is because My husband has a unique anatomy compared to the general public! Crazy right!! Total God thing! We have people praying for Gordon all over the world!!
I am realistic and understand what can happen though so I totally appreciate your honesty and want everyone to keep it coming!!!
Heather
Welcome Heather..
my husband has ICC as well–he’s 44 and has never been sick a day in life
besides having a cold (or two).His has gone to lymph nodes (two-local) and lungs so he is NOT
a candidate for surgery. (He’s Stage 4).BUT he’s a fighter and has responded well to the Gem/Cis chemo
regimen so far…Best wishes with all that lies (lays?) ahead….
Dorien
Heather…you and your husband are in great hands. I too believe in hugs- we can never give or receive enough hugs.
I have learned that isolated involvement of the portal vein makes the operation more difficult and in most cases is not achieveable, but if there are then those instances where a “very” qualified surgeon is able to reconstruct this vein. Your husband is very fortunate.
Hugs,
MarionThanks for the information, Heather, and I might add you are not only at a great Hospital you are with some great Docs. We are already getting so excited with you. Who ever thought people would get so excited to have surgery! Please stay in touch.
Thank yall so much!! I should have reached out sooner! Gordon is having a liver resection and vein resection?? Not sure if im saying that right. It will be an eight hour surgery!! His surgeon at MDA is Dr. Vauthey! He got a hug from me because I had said whoever gives us good news about surgery will get a hug!!! He gladly accepted! And Dr. Javle is the medical oncologist. Amazing drs, it is worth the trip to Houston! I don’t want to give false hope to anyone but I didn’t even think they could do anything if the portal vein has cancer. They will remove 50% of his liver.
Heather…I would like to follow Clarem and Lainy and welcome you to our site. As has been mentioned, this disease strikes without any warning and symptoms often are related to other illnesses. The absolute good news is that the tumor is local and no visible disease metastases have been found. If possible, your husband may want to stay active (as much as possible) eat well and build up his strength for the upcoming surgery. Please continue to reach out to us. We are here to support you and answer questions of any kind. I am glad that you have found us; we are in this together.
Hugs,
MarionDear Heather, welcome to our extraordinary family but sorry you had to join us. Be grateful, very grateful that MDA has a date set for Surgery. Surgery is really the ONLY cure. we love the word, Surgery! Can it come back? We hope not but there are no guarantees with any Cancer. At least he is going to have the best chance there is. Knowledge is one of our best tools in fighting CC and I would suggest that when you have time to spare use it to research and to read up some of our past posts. We also have a search button at the top and just type in any word and a ton of posts will appear on that subject. Is he having a Whipple? If not what kind of surgery are they doing? Who is the ONC at MDA?
Yes, this is the roller coaster ride that no one wants to buy a ticket for!
Attitude is extremely important and will get you both far. Please keep us updated as we truly care. You will see what a cheering section you have here on August 20th!Dear Heather,
Welcome to the forum although I wish you had not needed to come here. There will be others along soon to help answer your questions but surgery being possible is what you want to hear. There is always someone that can answer a question here – it is a pretty amazing place to be honest.
Infection and stents are fairly common but with the right treatment can be dealt with.
I too thought it didnt happen to young people but sadly it seems the numbers Re creeping up.
Hello my husband was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in November of 2012. He has undergone two regimens of chemo gemzar and cisplatin and then gemzar and xylota. We got to MD Anderson in April. Before that they the local surgeon said it was inoperable well MD Anderson says it is!! Surgery is set for Aug 20th. He has had a lot of difficulty with the stents….infection after infection. The stents have been replaced 4 times now. My husband is 45 years old….this isn’t supposed to happen to young people we thought. So I would love to here your experiences are the similar to my husbands?? His tumor was rather large 8cm but it is local…should we be excited that they are going to do surgery or is their still a high possibility it will come back? I know lots and lots of questions. This ride has been a roller coaster ride for us
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