Introduction / Welcome
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- This topic has 160 replies, 66 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 9 months ago by Kristenhall.
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September 13, 2018 at 9:40 am #97488vasilikisimpson@yahoo.comSpectator
Hi all,
I’m not sure if I’m posting this in the correct place (intro), hoping someone will be able to read it.
I’m the daughter of a cholangiocarcinoma patient. My 71 year old father was diagnosed with this disease in June 2018. Came on like a storm out of nowhere. Some abdominal pain, misdiagnosed as gastrointestinal issues, totally missed it on the ultrasound. Then severe jaundice came on, so obviously dad ended up in the hospital, underwent series of tests to receive the final diagnosis. Had succesful stent placement. Started feeling better. Doctors, surgeons and oncologists gave us a very poor prognosis, stage 4, inoperable, metastatic, some in the lymph nodes, some in artery and wall behind organs. Dad knows some of this information because he’s currently residing in Greece, where doctors will give minimum information to the patient in order to avoid a complete psychological meltdown where one can just pass away from hopelessness and sadness. Us, the family are fully aware. Dad has been given a time period of maximum one year. He has started chemo, has had 4 sessions that have completely wiped him out. For one he’s unrecognizable, my 6’2″ 195 pound dad is now a very fragile, frail man. Lots of weight loss and exhaustion. He sleeps all the time, refuses food, claims no appetite and pain if he eats anything solid. So, it’s power drinks, yogurt, some cream and juices he linli. Has lost interest or cannot participate in any activity, even watching his favorite shows, reading or playing on his Kindle, which he did following the first chemo session. His latest blood work showed signs of somewhat of an improvement. Oncologist told us all, including dad, that yes this is good news but due to the nature of the disease we don’t know whether these good news will reappear in the next exam. Dad is scheduled for an MRI on October 3 following his 5th chemo session. I’m just amazed at the complete collapse the treatment has caused. I was under the impression we’re doing this to give him a better quality of life and perhaps a chance of tumor shrinkage and possible surgery, I’m being very optimistic, it’s my father though so I can only hope. I currently reside in MD, in the US and am frantically looking into any clinical trials he may be a suitable candidate for.
Thank you for reading. I would appreciate any words of encouragement! I’m so glad to have been able to read many of your stories. They are comforting and inspirational.
Thank you!
Betti
August 27, 2018 at 9:04 pm #97429bglassModeratorHi Roger and Tracey,
Welcome to our community. It is truly concerning how difficult it was for Tracey to get to a diagnosis – especially since, as you note, time is of the essence with a cancer diagnosis. But, given the circumstances there was a hopeful ending as she was able to have surgery followed by adjuvant treatment. It is great Tracey is tolerating the capecitabine well. Should that change, if you search the chemo name on our search engine, you will find a lot of practical advice on how to cope with side effects.
If you haven’t already done so, you might try searching “Australia” on the discussion board search engine. There have been members over the years from Australia, and there might be info on doctors and treatment centers. I know a few of the trials available in the U.S. have sites in Australia. You are probably aware of the following already, but to get this information out there for everyone: Clinicaltrials.gov while a U.S. website does provide worldwide clinical trial information, and there is a similar site for Australia which is australianclinicaltrials.gov.au.
Your upcoming vacation sounds great. I hope you and Tracey enjoy your time getting away, it will be especially pleasant given the recent ordeal you both have been through. Please take a look at the patient and caregiver resources on the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation website, and stay in touch.
Regards, Mary
P.S. Since you enjoy travel to the U.S., I encourage you (and all our community) to consider joining the Foundation’s annual conference, which will take place in late January in Salt Lake City. Information is posted on the Foundation website.
August 27, 2018 at 3:04 pm #97428Roger56SpectatorHello. My wife aged 56, was diagnosed with CC four months ago. She initially presented with severe itching followed by a slight jaundice. Her regular doctor diagnosed her condition as menopause related and began treatment. The condition of course did not improve but her doctor continued to try to relieve her symptoms. Fortunately she was absent on one occasion and so my wife saw her colleague and he saw things very differently. Within a short time she had blood tests, an ultrasound, CT Scan and MRI which confirmed a much more serious diagnosis. To say that we were stunned was an understatement. In a moment we went from planning a European vacation to planning her treatment. On reflection we are horrified to think of how long her regular doctor would have continued to prescribe lotions and diet as a cure.
We had recently returned to Australia after an extended stay in New York so we had to make a decision as to where to have treatment. We considered MDA in Houston based on their reputation and advertising, but decided eventually to stay in Australia where there is more family support and where costs are so much lower. The first specialist that we saw was far too relaxed about treatment and basically uncontactable so apart from placing stents he did little to help. By this stage I was starting to look at flights to Houston but with time passing we sought recommendations from friends and family about treatment options in Sydney. As a result we contacted Dr. David Yeo at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney and from there the situation improved dramatically. Five days after seeing him, my wife had a Whipples procedure and the tumor was removed with thankfully, clear margins.
She has now moved on to adjunct therapy with Capecitabine oral chemotherapy for six months. So far, she is now in cycle three, she is tolerating the drug well even with high dose. Her oncologist has also approved a three week break in treatment after cycle five so that we can spend a few weeks relaxing in Hawaii, visiting Disneyland and seeing relatives in Las Vegas.
So far we are doing as well as can be expected in these circumstances and are hopeful of a positive outcome. These are truly the times when the effort and commitment that you put into your relationship over the years is there to sustain you so that you face challenges together.
We are none the less realistic about the challenges ahead and once this course of treatment is complete we will likely be back in the US to participate in clinical trials. Developments in immunotherapy look particularly promising. We can but hope. Best wishes to you all. Roger and Tracey
August 15, 2018 at 10:08 am #97375Carrot2018SpectatorHello everyone.
This is carrot,the caregiver to my dearest husband who got diagnosed with ICC. He had tumor taken out with clean margin, but lymph node is positive. He is doing GEM&Cap chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment now and tolerated it well. We have been treated at MD Anderson. The medical oncologist is Dr Varadhachary. We feel devastating when got to know the diagnosis but also feel fortunate to know the foundation here. There is Her2 amplifier found in the tumor and dr recommends adding Herceptin(targets Her2 positive breast and stomach cancer)to the adjuvant therapy. This is not done before and no scientific proof. I was asking if anyone had similar experience before?
ThanksJuly 12, 2018 at 4:27 pm #97253bglassModeratorHi Judy,
Welcome to our community. I am so sorry to hear about Joe’s diagnosis – cholangiocarcinoma sadly can be symptomless at the beginning, and patients can be blindsided when it is discovered.
I hope you and Joe have been able to look through the patient and caregiver resources on the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation’s website.
It sounds like your husband is in good hands with Sloan Kettering, with a trial in hand and a back-up for when you need it. The treatments through clinical trials can produce good results for many patients (shrinkage or stable disease) for a period of time, then may lose effectiveness, and a new treatment may then take over. I hope Joe gets good results from the AG-270 trial. Please keep us posted on his progress.
AG-270 is a newer trial. The INCB054828 trial has been around for awhile. There is a patient blog that describes experience with this trial – the link is http://pattysjourneyoffaith.blogspot.com and the posts on the trial start with December 2016.
Please keep the faith. Sending prayers your way that the trial does good work in keeping Joe feeling well.
Regards, Mary
July 12, 2018 at 1:06 pm #97252FlycatmooseSpectatorHello, I’m new to the Discussion Board. My name is Judy and my husband’s name is Joe. In February my Joe started complaining of a stomach ache. Being a big guy at 6′ and 210 pounds and very healthy, we didn’t think much of it…he never missed a colonoscopy or a physical at the doctors. The doctor thought it was just an ulcer and asked to do a ultrasound so that he could treat the ulcer. That ultrasound led to a Cat Scan with contrast that same day and by the next day, our whole world turned upside down…..by that night, we were sitting in an Oncologist’s Office going over my husband’s scans. Little did we know at that time how rare and aggressive this cancer was…actually we knew nothing about cancer…..After many tests for 3 weeks straight, it was determined he had Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, It was stage 4 and had already spread to his spine and his periodium. He went through two months of chemo (gemzar and cisplatin) which did nothing to slow his cancer down, infact his tumors grew bigger. He then started on Folfox but got really sick and ended up in the hospital twice for paracentesis and high heart rates and low blood pressure. At this point, they asked us to contact Sloan Kettering to see if they had any Clinical Trials going on. We had gone to Sloan Kettering in the beginning to get a second opinion and they did Genetic Testing to my husband. They found he had 2 Genetic Mutations. He was recently enrolled in a Phase I Clinical Trial of AG-270 which is a treatment for advanced solid tumors with the Homozygous Deletion of MTAP. He fit the criteria and this is his first week on the Trial. He was also tested and fit another Clinical Trial which was a Phase 2 Trial to Evaluate the Safety of INCB054828 in Subjects with Advanced Cholangiocarcinoma including FGFR2 Translocations. He was 99% ready to start this trial when the Drug Company ordered samples of his Liver to do their own biopsys. The doctor did not want to wait and said to go into the Phase 1 Study immediately. We are hoping that this trial shows some progress but it is too early to tell. If it does not, we are hoping to get into the second trial. Right now we are hoping for the best and trying to stay positive. This Cancer is aggressive and unpredictable. My husband had to stay off of Chemo and Radiation for a month to be able to go onto this trial but in the time he was off, his cancer grew to an advanced state. We are hoping that this medicine stabilizes the cancer. We are praying…..
July 4, 2018 at 11:21 am #97224gavinModeratorHi Pamela,
Thank you loads for your most generous donations from your store. It is much appreciated indeed! I know how proud your mum will be of you and like you as well I too hope that we will find the cure as soon as possible. Thank you!
Hugs,
Gavin
July 1, 2018 at 3:07 pm #97213pgaskaSpectatorHi. I wanted to let everyone know I am donating part of my sales to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. I will be donationg 10% of each sale in my Etsy shop! My shop name is Fired and Wired. I make hand-stamped jewelry.
I haven’t been on this site in quite awhile. I lost my best friend and mother, 8 years ago this September, to this cancer. I wanted to do something in her memory. I pray that one day there will be a cure. Prayers to all on this site!
God Bless
Pamela
http://www.firedandwired.etsy.com
- This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by pgaska.
March 2, 2018 at 1:10 pm #96690bglassModeratorLauren,
Thank you for your post. Your father is having a tough time, I hope he is feeling better and can come home quickly.
This discussion board is a welcoming community and although we are not doctors, together we have a huge body of experiences when it comes to this very rare cancer. Please take a look at the Foundation website resources for newly diagnosed patients, and with the search engine you can find other caregiver and patient experiences with the treatments and symptoms your father faces.
Which chemos will your father be treated with?
Please stay in touch! Regards, Mary
February 28, 2018 at 11:31 am #96685Lauren928Spectator<p style=”text-align: left;”>Hi, I am a caregiver to my 71 year old father who was diagnosed with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma with Mets to the lungs on February 7th. On February 18 he was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, a pneumothorax in his left lung, and a pulmonary embolism in his right. He had a pleurodesis procedure as well as paracentis. He is recovering and we are hoping to have him out of the hospital this week to start chemo next week. This is a tough road. I’m glad I found this site for support.</p>
February 28, 2018 at 6:52 am #96681SherrybSpectatorHello Mary,
His first treatment of Chemo went alright, He came to my work after and was in good spirits and actually was acting like his old self. I do not know what meds they are using. He goes to see his Dr. next Wednesday and I told him I am going to tag along to ask some questions. We want to get a second opinion, but everyone I have talked to says start the Chemo first to get the cancer from spreading. According to this Dr; Cleveland Clinic read his reports and looked at his scans and said there was no hope and he was not a candidate for surgery. I have this feeling in my gut, that this Oncologist doesn’t know what he is doing. Now mind you this could be a daughter trying to save her dad, or my gut could be right. I live in Canton Ohio and I do not think that the Dr.s here have any idea what to do with this kind of cancer. I have contacted Cancer Treatment Centers of America and they say that they treat this cancer, but in my research I have found that they are not good places to go but I don’t know. My dad fears if he doesn’t listen to this Dr. then he could die now. In all that I have read the outlook is bleak, but I do let him see it. I give him honest and upfront answers on the research I have done. I will not give him false hope, but will not let him wither away either. He lives an hour away. But I call him and make sure that he is moving around. He is so tired all the time. My fear is he will give up. Even though, he said he can’t go yet, he has to make sure everything is in order. He does not want to die so I think that positive is helpful. I will keep you posted.
February 27, 2018 at 9:19 pm #96680bglassModeratorHi Sherry,
Welcome to the discussion board, but I am so very sorry to hear about your father.
Yes this is a difficult cancer, but it is treatable and many patients exceed the doctor’s initial prognosis with decent quality of life. Please help your father and family to stay positive and hopeful. What is essential for cholangiocarcinoma, because it is so rare, is to find experienced doctors, which usually means seeking advice from a major cancer hospital. Have you been able to find doctors who know this rare cancer?
If the cancer has not spread, it is also important to seek a good surgical opinion up front. The surgery for cholangiocarcinoma is very complex, and doctors with less experience with this cancer may say “inoperable” when a skilled liver surgeon would say otherwise.
There is a ton of great information on the Foundation website for the newly diagnosed, plus a community of patients and caregivers.
I hope your father tolerates the chemo without too many side effects. What chemo drugs has his doctor recommended?
Please let us know how your father is doing once he starts chemo. There are a lot of great posts in the chemotherapy section of the discussion board that offer advice on calming down any side effects.
Take care, regards, Mary
February 26, 2018 at 1:07 pm #96676SherrybSpectatorHello, My name is Sherry. My father was diagnosed 1 week following his 70th birthday (Feb 3rd 2018). He went in for a gallbladder issue, came out with the horrific news that he is dying. In my research on this ugly monster I came across this site. I have been doing what I can to get all of the information as he is not getting all of the information from this particular Dr. He started Chemo last thurs. After his treatments are completed I will take him for a second opinion as to the depth of this cancer and its ability to be removed. Thank you for allowing me to join this group though I wish there was not a need for it.
December 12, 2017 at 11:31 pm #96254Love4lifeSpectatorHello All
My name is Aroha Rota I am 47yo women from New Zealand I have been diagnosed with incurable and inoperable CC. I have three children 18yo boy, 16yo girl and 13yo girl, I also have a grandchild 2yo. My journey so far since knowing has been eating organic and vegetarian only. I was hoping to “extend” my life expectancy by not having chemo treatment rather going naturally but I am unsure if this cancer has survivors using this path.
I am so happy there is a CC foundation to help me with understanding this cancer further and forums of discussions.
Thank you
ArohaOctober 10, 2017 at 1:54 pm #95821kasotakSpectatorHi Rhondarn,
Thanks for responding. I have been doing more research and it alternatively scares and calms me. How is your mother? Was her IHCC found early? The survival rates are very scary. But I need to focus on the positives and be optimistic. I am very nervous about taking Xeloda. Did your mother take that?
KasotaK
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