sir-spheres
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hi keith and welcome…my wife just had the sir spheres procedure done on feb.5 and the doctors did not suggest any other treatment right now…they said that we have to wait 8-12 weeks to see the outcome of the spheres treatment…she has a full blood work done once a week and at this time thats all….but i have read that some people do have chemo along with this procedure…this isnt much to offer but i hope it helps…ron
Keith,
My wife had two surgeries and several rounds of chemo before she had Theraspheres at Mayo Clinic in MN. Her MD was Lewis Roberts. Chemo wasn’t really working so that’s why they went with the spheres (which was the best thing she ever did). After her cancer spread to her lungs, they tried chemo again witout success.
Good luck.
Bill
Hello Keith & welcome, I am sorry to hear about your Mom’s recurrent tumors. You have a great team here to field your questions to! While not directly related to SIR spheres, per research for my Dad, when we were looking into the microspheres – we were told it would work in conjunction with the gemzar. He just finished up 3.5 months of gemzar & started a new chemo, 5FU, last week. He will likely begin brachytherapy radiation next week (5 days week/5 weeks) & this will be in combination with his new chemo, which will be infused via a pump that he will wear 24/7. I have certainly found varying opinions on what docs will do & how they will do it. We went after about 10 different opinions, just to get comfortable with what our options really were. You are right to ask all the questions you have, at any time.
The “search forum” tab above should assist with locating additional insights into the combo of SIR with chemo ….. consider checking out this thread, for example…
http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=2294Wishing you and your family all the best Keith.
Tess
Hello all. My name is Keith and my mother was diagnosed almost a year ago. It is really helpful to be able to read your experiences. My mother had an 11-cm tumor, but the surgeons at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville were able to do a central hepatectomy to resect it. They followed up with six months of chemo (gemcitabine or gemzar). The followup CT then showed at least 2 and as many as eight recurrent tumors, the largest of whcih were approximately 2 cm.
They are now moving forward with SIR sphere treatment. This is my question, and I’m hoping some of you might have dealt with this issue: the oncologist does not want to resume chemo (they would add a second drug this time) until AFTER the SIR treatment (in other words six months to a year). The doctor administering the SIRT has told us that the chemo drugs involved would not interfere with what he is doing, so I am not satisified with the answers I am being given for not starting chemo NOW, to coincide with the radiation. The oncologist finally told me that the cancer would become “resistant” to the chemo drugs eventually and, if they do it now, there would be no alternative for treatment down the road after SIR-sphere treatment had been exhausted.
Have any of you or your loved ones undergone both chemo and SIR at the same time? If not, was it discussed as an option? I would appreciate any thoughts any of you may have.
That’s great news Ron. Please send a big bundle of well wishes to Lucille from all the crew here & let her know we wish her the very best. I think a good appetite is one of those things you become extremely grateful for when it comes to cc. Perhaps you might take her to a favorite buffet & celebrate (all day) ….. Just don’t try that one on the anniversary dinner unless you bring your own candle light!
Best to you both,
Tesshi all, my wife lucille had the s.i.r.t. procedure today… we just arrived home from mt. sinai hospital and all went well ….right now she feels fine and has a great appetite and the doctors are optimistic, so we are in a wait and see period….so it will be a few weeks or months until we really know anything…this will be hard to endure but this is how this procedure works,so im told…..but i feel very confident that this treatment plus the help of the lord will help her. …again thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and i will keep you informed…..ron
dear tess, thank you for your best wishes…and tell your dad that we are praying for him..never stop trying or believeing…wish your mom and dad a happy 40th from us …also thanks to patty and darla and everyone else…we feel that we have made some new friends….ron
Dear Ron, welcome & best wishes on your upcoming anniversary, and I hope all goes well with s.i.r.t. this week! My Dad has cc, and was diagnosed back in Nov. He’s been on gemzar since. We are not strangers to the pit in the stomach that you speak of! Dad had checked into microspheres, because so many docs. said they wouldn’t radiate and couldn’t resect. He wasn’t a candidate for that either, as the bili rubin levels were too high. He will start brachytherpay via his biliary catheter, in mid-Feb. Mom & Dad are looking forward to their next anniversary, as it too will be their 40th! Keep us posted on how it goes this week, you and your wife are in our thoughts!
-Tess
thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and i agree the people on this site are very supportive and we thank you ….i will keep everyone in touch and let you know how we make out on thursday..again thank you for the support…and except our prayers…ron and lucille
Hi Ron,
Welcome. I am glad you have found us, but sorry for what you are dealing with that brought you here. I don’t know much about s.i.r.t., but I am sure there are others here that will join in with help & information for you. You have found the best site to be on when dealing with this disease. Everyone here is so helpful & understanding. Please come back often and let us know how things are going for your wife. We are all here to support & help each other and we all know what you are going through as we have either been there or are dealing with it now. I will be thinking of you and your wife and hoping for the best out come on Thursday. I will keep you both in my thoughts & prayers.
Darla
Hi and welcome to the best little club in the world that no one wishes to join.
You have come to the right place and will meet many courageous and caring people here. Hoping for the best for you and your wife and please keep us posted.hi.my is ron and im new to this site..my wife who is 58 years old was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma back in march of last year…she has had 6 rounds of chemo which kept it in check for a while now it is starting to progress..after her chemo they tried to put a pump in which she was not a candidate for. the pump would have delivered chemo directly to the tumor..now she has been cleared for s.i.r.t. on feb.5…we are optimistic and so are the doctors that this procedure will benefit her… i have read where this procedure has help many people…so we are hopefull..you know for many years we always donated to the cancer society of america and st. jude and always thought what a horrific disease cancer is and what the families of the loved ones affected must be going though…but you never really know until this dreaded disease strikes a love one and you get that gut wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach that stays with you 24 7…we think about the positve things…that there is treatment and hope for people with this disease…we are planning a trip hopefully this coming march,we will be married 40 years…and looking forward to another 40…thank you all for listening to our story and please except our prayers and hope that someday this dreaded disease will no longer affect a loved one or anyone……our prayers to all ron
Hi Jerry D., Really happy to read your very positive post. Oxalyplatinum and capcetinbine was the best regimen I have taking to date as well. Oncologist wants to try me on Taxotere starting Monday. He feels because of the tumor on my 10th rib and spine bone that popped up that my cc is not being held back even though my liver and lungs remains stable. I cant’ find much on this chemo drug being used for cc except in trials. Have you heard anyone trying it for cc? The small trails showed a small percentage of complete response as well as partial responses. I know it is not normally used for cc but going to give it a whirl any hoot; despite the boxed warnings of side effects. Have a great day.
Jeff G.I was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in Mar. 2001. The first step was to remove half my liver, but within a year the cancer (from the bile ducts) spread to the remaining half. I then went on many different clinical chemo trials, some of which worked, some which did not work. I also had chryoablation a couple years ago which got rid of several spots except for those in critical areas which could not be treated. I then when on more chemo — some worked for awhile (oxlyaplatin and capecitabine worked for 1 1/2 years), then more chemo which did not work.
Last November, after the preliminary prepping, mapping and inserting of metal slinkies in the veins in October, I had the Sirs Spheres radiation beads inserted in the liver.
Since then I’ve had several scans. The first showed small shrinkage, the rest showed a stable condition. The most recent scan (last week), 8 months after treatment, still showed my condition to be stable.
I should mention that I only had one treatment, because I’m told the protcol is for a single treatment for each lobe of the liver — and I only have the one lobe of course.
I also want to say how lucky I feel to live in Wisconsin and be relatively close to the Univ. of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center — which has kept me alive and kicking for over 6 years.
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