liver surgery
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Hi Charley,
I came here back in the summer of 2008 when my dad was diagnosed with CC, not me. His CC was inoperable and he had PDT as his treatment and he did not have chemo or radiation either. The hope was that he would get chemo at a later date if needed, but as it turned out he couldn’t get chemo as the jaundice came back and his bili levels were too high.
I know what you mean about all of this being so confusing, but the more that you learn about CC the better informed you will be when it comes to making decisions etc. As to the surgery, have you looked at getting another opinion from a different doctor about surgery?
Hoping that you have a bright and sunshiny day also!
Best wishes,
Gavin
Thanks Linda.
I just here so many different stories about what one surgeon will do that others wouldn’t recommend. It is just so hard to know what do.
It is also difficult to know when to more aggressive. It seems most onc are satifisfied with status quo and wait until something happens to make changes in your plan. There may be nothing else for me but I would hate to not know if their were other options.Thanks for listening,
CharleyGavin
Thanks for sharing your experience. Are you cancer-free ? Did you have any
chemo or radiation? My doctor said surgery would not be an option if they couldn’t get it all and then I folks having some but not all of it taken out. It seems all so confusing.I am so glad you are doing well.
Thanks and have a bright and sunshiny day.Charley
Charley,
I had a very large tumor in the left lobe, but another small tumor in the right lobe. The doctors removed about 40% of the left lobe with some of the right lobe, but did not remove the tumor in the right lobe. This tumor was not near the part that was removed. It was burned instead. It was my impression from what I was told by many, was because it was in a separate part of the liver, not near the part removed, that it might put the liver in too much stress possibly causing liver malfunction. The doctors chose to burn it instead.
I think that might be the norm, that if the parts to remove are all near each other, they can also remove left and right lobes parts. AND the liver is the only organ that regenerates itself. The left lobe does not grow back, (or the right if that is removed), the remaining part grows larger to accommodate for the loss of the other part. You will just have one large part instead of 2 distinct sections.
When I first had surgery, I put so much faith into my doctors and didn’t really ask too much, or search for more information. It was in the dark. Now I feel knowledge is power and I can’t get enough of it. This site has been SO beneficial for that. Come back here often.
Linda
Charley – I had a liver resection with 75% of my liver removed. I’m not exactly sure, but I believe mine involved both lobes. Basically my entire right lobe was removed, and part of my left.
I’m looking at a picture/diagram now of a liver, with the 8 sections pictured, and just going from that. From the picture, I feel they removed 75% of sections 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. And the approx 25% remaining were sections 2, 3, and parts of 4.
Also when my liver regenerated, it “grew back” on my left side. Which the doctors stated was ok, and not really abnormal.
I found this site with a diagram:
http://www.cpmc.org/images/liver/topics/liver_segments.jpgDale
I keep reading about folks having to 70-75% of their livers removed. Does this happen when you have both lobes involved? None of the oncologists I have talked with seem to know What I am talking about when I mention this. Are there only certain hospitals that will do this?
Sometimes I feel like I am missing somethng important that I should know about.Does any body else feel like they are out of the loop. Does anyone else feel like this?
Thanks,
Charley
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