My dad has Cholangiocarcinoma

Discussion Board Forums General Discussion My dad has Cholangiocarcinoma

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 42 total)
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  • #81678
    samira33
    Member

    Thank you dear Lainy, well stents are plastic, they place them during surgery and one is still working. thought he may need surgery to exchange the one inside, but his body is getting weak. So his bilirubin is getting a big concern, as they stop chemo and he lost appetites.
    Many thanks for your concern.

    #81677
    lainy
    Spectator

    Samira, glad to hear Dad is a little better. As for the stents if they are ‘plastic’ they tend to clog up more often. My husband had to go in like every 6 weeks – 2 months for an exchange. Not a huge deal just inconvenient. I would have Dad ask his ONC if the stents may have slipped or become clogged. Best to you and your Dad.

    #81676
    samira33
    Member

    Hi Julie thank you for your reply and hope all go well for you. Thankfully, my dad glucose level is back to normal and also his palettes and WBC. However, he has dizziness due to low RBC and HCT.
    Although he has stent over a month, his bilirubin level is still high and about 32. :(
    Is there anything else to help to reduce biliurbin apart from stent?

    #81675
    iowagirl
    Member

    Samira, I can’t say that a CC patient should consume loads of sweet and sugar…..but they definitely need to check blood sugar more frequently and keep a log to show to the doctor, IMO….to make sure that the lows aren’t getting too low. You don’t want dizziness from low blood sugar for sure…and end up passed out or hurt from falling from dizziness. I check my blood sugar some days many more times than my doctor “wants” because I want to know what it’s doing on days that it doesn’t seem to act just quite right compared to the insulin i’m taking in. When I started seeing numbers too low, I pulled back on my insulin…thinking I was becoming less insulin resistant (after having lost 55 pounds over a year and a half). I was getting ready to talk to diabetic educators about all this when I was suddenly diagnosed. I didn’t eat a lot of excess sugary foods…but I did allow myself to have them more often as I had to get in something that would raise blood sugar and keep it at least in the normal range. I would tend toward fruit juices or fruit…..most of them raising blood sugar and yet you get in at least something of decent nutrition and not all junk food. Anyway, this was my personal experience….and may not be totally the case for your dad. Definitely bring it to the attention of the doctors if they don’t know and if they do, ask for a consultation with a diabetes specialist. Blood sugars in the 40s are nothing to take lightly.

    Julie T.

    #81674
    samira33
    Member

    amir do you know any center in iran that do Photodynamic therapy (PDT)?

    #81673
    samira33
    Member

    Thank you to all.
    He is much better now as his glucose back to normal level, but still has the issue with platelets (25000). So they stopped chemo for a while. He is getting few FFP and a Blood transfusion. :(
    so, CC patient needs to consume loads of sugar and sweets, am I right?
    Does anyone heard about Dr Rosenburg who treated a patient with advance CC by Immunotherapy?

    #81672
    iowagirl
    Member

    Just before my tumor was found, I had a spontaneous low blood sugar event…BG was 43. And, it took a heck of a lot of OJ and cookies to bring it up…over the course of 3 hours. After we found the tumor, a few days later, I did some research and discovered that a spontaneous low sugar event was a sign of liver cancer.

    On Dec 31, 2013, my A1C was 7.7, and by the night before I had surgery on Feb 27th, it was 6.9. I had not eaten any differently than usual, but I was getting numbers into the 80s and 90s consistently on less insulin than I previously used. I’m quite sure that if we did an A1C test right now, it would be back up again some. When my incision healing stalled and got infected, the numbers went up again for a number of weeks until that was under control.

    After my surgery where half the left lobe of liver was removed, along with the tumor/s, my BG acted more normally again…at least normally for a diabetic on insulin. We were able to get the BG easily regulated though with insulin….where it should be…..unlike it had been most of the previous year….when I had been sick almost constantly with bronchial and lung infections.

    So yes, CC or any liver cancer, does affect BG and it would be downward…at least in my experience.

    Julie T.

    #81671
    shellina
    Member

    My husband is not doing treatment (no chemo, surgery, etc). He is not diabetic. However, his blood sugar is very low now. The last time he was hospitalized his glucose was down as low as 40. The doctors told us glucose levels are usually low in CC patients because of the metabolism issues CC patients face.

    #81670
    iowagirl
    Member

    Amihenry,

    Is that glucose issue a side effect of the Gemcitibine or the Tarceva?

    Julie T.

    #81669
    amirhenry
    Spectator

    it is one of the side effects of chemo. don’t worry.

    my dad has diabetes and since chemo he has to inject the insoline.

    #81668
    samira33
    Member

    Dad is taking 3 weeks course chemo (Gem+tarveca), and is gonna finish by this week. However, his glucose level droped to 56 mg/dl and platelets 66000 yesterday. They stopped chemo for few days and injected serum which helped to increase his glucose level up to 86 today.
    does anyone has any opinion about this condition?
    Thank you amir for ur info.

    #81667
    amirhenry
    Spectator

    the best surgeon in IRAN for resection of the cc tumor is Dr. Nikeghbalian in Shiraz and also Dr. Malakhosseini (pedare kabede iran).

    The best Dr. for putting the stent is Dr. Akhlaghpour in Tehran.

    my dad’s Dr. is in Tehran and he used GEM/CIS for chemotherapy and it worked.

    i hope it works on your dad too. be hopeful.

    #81666
    samira33
    Member

    Hi,
    he had about 3 weeks ago, and is starting chemo,
    his surgeon was Dr Maddah, and oncologist Dr yasha Makhdoumi , in mashhad, omid hospital

    #81665
    amirhenry
    Spectator

    hi Samira

    my dad has CC too. we are in IRAN.

    where did he has surgery? who is his Dr.?

    #81664
    samira33
    Member

    Thank you for information. He is a bit better with eating now but is going to start chemo tomorro and probably will get more problem with eating after that.
    I just found this center in Germany, does anyone have idea about it?
    http://www.karl-olga-krankenhaus.de/leistungsspektrum/medizinische-zentren/zertifiziertes-leber-galle-zentrum-lgz.html
    it is getting too hard, his dr said if chemo do not work the rest is only going to be palliative treatment. :(((

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 42 total)
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