intrahepatic vs extrahepatic

WONDERFUL. FABBY.
You might want to look here http://www.corpangelnetwork.org/
to see if they can help with your flights!

Best of Luck.
Kris

IPT is Insulin Potentiation Therapy. It is alternative treatment and you can read about it if you google those words. It requires a port and IV administration and takes about 2 hours. We went to Phoenix for three months last spring and worked with Dr. Lodi. He did IV Vitamin c, ozone therapy, nutrients and chelation along with the IPT. He is also a strong advocate of raw vegan diet and juicing and cleansing so it is a radical change if you haven’t tried any of that. We were also partially raw vegan for 9 months before we went. Once we came back home to Illinois we found a doctor in Burr Ridge who does IPt and now Joe is getting it once every other week. Not covered by Medicare but partially covered by some insurance. We chose that because Joe didn’t want the side effects of regular chemo. He had RFA on a tumor that was really active in his liver and was 5 cm in size. As far as I was told, that is the largest they can do at this point. He had embolization the day before to cut off the blood supply to the tumor and then RFA. He has two other liver tumors too big to treat but they are necrotic on the inside. He also has 5 small tumors in his lungs that they haven’t addressed at this point. They have shrunk since being on IPt. Hope that helps. Mary Anne

Lana,
My huband Joe has intrahepatic. He has mets to the liver and lungs. and I thought we were lucky he didn’t have extrahepatic because I thought he would have less chance of blockage and jaundic.e His only symptom has been a queasy stomach. He was diagnosed in July 06 so we are 15 months now. He opted for no chemo because of the side effects and he was feeling so well. In March he decided to do IPT which is alternative and uses only 10% of the normal chemo dose. You can read our blog to get more details http://www.joesinformation.blogspot.com or we are under family blogs – Coburn. The IPt he got was not covered by Medicare so we have a large debt but it did reduce the tumors and he had RFA on an active liver tumor that developed last spring. He is doing well and now gets IPT only once every other week. He is on lots of supplements and also lo dose Naltrexone which is supposed to boost the immune system.We have also been on a vegan diet since diagnosis. We feel blessed that he has done this well and know that prayers help a lot. We will pray for you and hope we get more answers soon. God Bless Mary Anne

My husband also, intrahepatic diagnosed early 07, metal stent for his jaundice at that time. so far so good with that. He has mets to the liver, a 15 plus cm tumor with some buddies in there….so the docs everywhere TD’d us for every surgical procedure. Not that we did not try, going from Tac Gen to University of Wa to Huston MD Anderson. Clinical trials are all that is left. After that trip his regular onc. offered some Tarceva which is not known to work for CC and very spendy. I think he just wants him on “something”. They do tend to generalize in medicine and with CC we are lumped in with other similar cancers for lack of knowledge. He never took the Tarceva, the pharmacist gave us a printout on it that was not from the pharmaceutical company and it was astounding in side effects, especially for a person with only 20% liver function. He is very up and around altho loosing weight. He is now on a high alkaline diet and ,yes, wheat grass shot every day. We know it is only a matter of time, but isnt all life like that. Sieze the day !!! I tell him that every morn and he laughs. He is slipping a bit here and there, but I am so glad that as yet there is no pain. The only meds he takes are to help with sleep. I dont know why cancer patients dont sleep well. I think Bob, the tumor, has nightly parties in his liver……

Lana,

My dad had intraheptic which was apparently wrapped around the portal vein, he had one aborted resection, when we sought a second opinion we were recommended to consult with Prof Lodge who is well respected in the field of liver surgery who performed a successful resection. The surgery was complex however Peter Lodge is well known for attempting surgery and offering hope with such cases. I would recommend getting a second opinion and be prepared to travel to find the right person.

I don’t know if anyone from the UK was watching ‘Holby City’ this evening on TV – it showed a similar case of cancer that was resected using a patch on the portal vein. Programmes like this have consultants to advise them regarding medical accuracy, the procedure was groundbreaking and complex however it was achievable. When we spoke to Yuman Fong in SK he admitted that resections are possible with artery involvement – just complex and risky. Half the time I think it is just about finding someone who is prepared to make the effort and isn’t dismissive just because it is cancer and ‘it will probably come back anyway’. Keep going until you find a Dr who is prepared to go the extra mile for you.

Good luck, Jules