Proton Radiotherapy for the Treatment of Upper Gastrointestinal and Bi

summergirl…Your Mom might want to ask her doctor for the names of palliative care and symptom management specialists in the community. It is not end of life care rather, it focuses on all aspects of the disease and the progression of the disease.
I am sending all my best wishes,
Hugs,
Marion

Dear Summergirl, IF your Mother has decided she is done with treatments there is nothing more to be done than to make sure she is comfortable. I would ask the ONC for something for Nausea and for pain. I would also ask him when he thinks you should call Hospice in as they do start way ahead of time in helping her to stay comfortable. Hospice has to be ordered by the ONC.
With that said you might want to get a 2nd opinion as maybe there are other options for her besides what she has been doing. When you feel comfortable and can agree with the ONC you will know it and he will guide you on what to do. If you want to know more now, please email me asking what you want to know and I will be happy to tell you.

summergirl….wonderful to hear that your Mom has faired so well throughout the procedure and is recovering well. Fingers are crossed for an excellent CT scan result.
Please, keep us posted.
Hugs,
Marion

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and well wishes. I appreciate it so much! The doctor said the procedure went very well. He put her on a steroid dose pack and said that would help her feel better for the first couple of weeks. He stated she would probably begin to feel fatigued for two to three weeks after that though. She has had no side effects so far and hopefully she will skip the fatigue. She’s a trooper.

She’ll have a CT Scan the second week of November and we’ll know more at that time. I will let you know the results as soon as we receive them. Thank you again for sharing your experiences and ideas. You are performing a great service.

Dear Fuuko, not sure about other diseases for treatments as our focus here is on cholangiocarsinoma however if you google Sir-sphere I am sure they would have a listing for you. Best of luck.

Summergirl….I also want to wish the best with the upcoming treatment. Please, keep us posted.
Hugs,
Marion

Gavin,

Thank you so much for your reply. I just wanted to let you know how it went on Thursday. The doctor said my mother is a candidate for SIR-Sphere treatment and he feels like she should get a good response. He said he has done this on 20 – 30 CC patients and some of those patients had responded well. She has an appointment for the testing prior to the procedure on Wednesday and then the procedure will be done on Thursday. The doctor said she won’t feel well for a few weeks afterwards, but then she should feel better. I hope he is correct. I will let you know how everything goes on Thursday. Thanks so much for being here for us!

Gavin, My mother has just been told that although her cancer has not spread outside of the liver, she has new tumors and the smaller ones she already had are growing. She has one large tumor that was found in August of 2011 and that tumor has remained roughly the same size with the use of chemo and radiation. Unfortunately, the doctor does not recommend additional chemo or radiation. My mother will see a doctor here on Thursday to see if she is a candidate for radioembolization. She had been going to MD Anderson until June and she was told they didn’t recommend it for CC because they had not really had any success with it in CC patients. Could you please tell me if you have an opinion about the procedure?

My mother is not ready to give up, but the doctors are telling us there is little more that can be done at this point. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with others. I don’t know where to turn to help my mother.