hopeless 5fu?

Hi Lilly,

My wife, whose Liver Cancer has mets’d to her lungs, is on 5 FU w/ Leucovorin + Irenotecan. The Irenotecan proved too rough for her so our Onc dropped it but continued on the rest. A new scan, 9/12/08 showed her Liver Tumor’s growth was slowing. The Lecovorin, as I understand it, is to help the 5 FU & Irenotecan work.

So end result = not a cure but can extend life is what they are telling us. Her bilirubin is 5.5, too high to continue on Irenotecan but ok for the 5 FU. My wife has tolerated the 5 FU pretty well, is very tired and sleeps a lot but can eat pretty well if she eats 6-7 small meals per day. Now they will insert a drain next week trying to help lower her bilirubin. If they can get that down, perhaps they can resume the Irenotecan.

BTW, this Chemo routine was suggest to us by M D Anderson, after our visit there. It is used primarily on Colon Cancer with some success. They are trying this on my wife to see if it will have any effect on CC. The plan is to slow, to then stop, to then reverse the tumor growth.

I don’t mean this to be negative because we are happy to have a plan that could work. I would approach it the same way with your husband, if I were you.

We pray you find success in this treatment.

Handyman