Liver Infusion Pump?

Kris, I’m hoping for a good CT for you later this month. I know you’ve been through a lot this year and you really deserve a break. I’ll be thinking of you on the 27th.

Oh, and keep asking questions. Doctors are especially interested if they think you’re bright enough to understand the answers, particularly those in teaching hospitals. I have learned a lot that way about my cardiac condition, and more recently about cc. When I was hospitalized for observation several years ago in a cardiac unit, I told my cardiologist that I was visited by a group of med students for about 45 minutes. When I told my cardiologist about the visit, she said “only 45 minutes?” I think cc is a bit more challenging.

Good luck!

You go girl! Ask away, that is your right and don’t feel ‘weird’ about it. It’s the domino effect you know. When you ask we ALL learn! Did you ever in your life see a Site where people would just about give anything to have surgery? Something wrong with this picture.

They found small nodules in my lungs as well on this scan a month ago. (3-4 mm) There is no proof this is cancer. It MIGHT be, but nodules like theese are often found when scanning peoples lungs. And then gone. Like said, it might be inflammation or other not dangerous things.

Hi Marion,
It was actually fairly complicated, but essentially, they just disappeared. every scan I have something show up in my lungs, but the next scan it is gone and there is something new. the scan that caused the doctors to have me go off the pump said
Numerous enhancing pleural nodules throughout the right
hemithorax consistent with metastatic disease.

Enlargement of a now moderate sized right pleural effusion,
presumably malignant. This was in August 2010 and the fluid in the pleural effusion did not show cancer.

This last scan they found
” Two new ill-defined peripheral left upper lobe pulmonary nodules,
both seen on series 5, image 64, whose appearance is suggestive
of atelectasis or mild inflammation”
which everyone agrees is not cancer. These were not present 3 months ago on a scan , two other small nodules were, but they were gone on this latest scan. It just isn’t acting like cancer typically acts, tho I know that you can never tell what cancer will do.

After my first cisplatin/genzar treatment, my system shut down and I ended up in ICU for 4 days. White blood cell count was so low they isolated me and gave me lots of antibiotics, and the nodules in the first scan just dissapeared, we are talking a few weeks. My brotheer in law is a pulmonary specialist and he said it was very unlikely that the nodules in my lung were cancer. But cancer doctors seemed sure it was cancer. So I can’t prove it and I do wish I had insisted on a pet scan. when I went back on the pump last week, the nurse practioner who I have always worked with agreed it probably wasn’t cancer after all. So I am speculating but I have kicked myself for not following up on it better.

Thank you for your response.

Karen
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Kris,
I am glad to see your post because I had planned to post on this treatment. My tumor was found in July of 2009. After many tests to determine what we were dealing with my surgeon determined that it was inoperable (seems like most are). At that time it was the size of a baseball (doctor’s description) about 8cm X 5cm – I couldn’t find my exact measurements. I had surgery at UCSF Helen Diller Cancer Center to implant the infusion pump and run the line to the liver in December 2009. It is tough surgery, they create a pocket for the pump and run the line thru an artery. In my case the line actually went not just into the liver, but directly into my tumor. The pump is a Medtronic SynchroMed 11 8637-40. The chemo drug is FUDR.

I had the infusion pump from Dec 2009 thru August 2010. In that time my tumor shrunk to 3.9cm X2.6cm. In August 2010 my scan showed some nodules in my lungs that the doctors thought were probably cancer. I should have insisted on a pet scan, because it now appears that I have not had any cancer in my lungs, but I went on the usual cisplatin/gemzer chemo treatment until this month – my tumor did not grow on the systemic treatment, but it also did not shrink. So as of this month, I am back on the infusion, 2 weeks on the FUDR and two weeks on saline/heperin.

I did not have a lot of side effects with the FUDR, certainly not like the systemic chemo. There is some fatigue, but that is probably true with all cancer, and it is minimal. I have some sleep problems when I am on the FUDR, I tend to sleep for a few hours, up for a couple and back to sleep for couple. I did not lose any hair, but it got a funny texture – pretty minor compared with what most people go thru.

When we did this, my surgeon said this is old therapy – they hadn’t used it in years – but it has worked for me. Right now I am feeling good. I will be happy to answer any questions that I can help you with. I don’t look at this website a lot, so feel free to email me at cobbmkc@mchsi.com I am back on the pump because I felt it was a better option to shrink the tumor. Hope this helps.

I just realized that you had several other posts where you can’t use the pump, so I am sorry I didn’t notice them. But maybe this will help someone else.
Karen Casey