Surgical HOpe?
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Julie, I post my story on every wall, page… not because I want to talk about me, but because I had a miracle surgeon!! Dr. William Chapman is beyond words,!! I am excited to say he has changed at least four of our CC’s family diagnose from inoperable/pallative/hospice to operable! For me that is exciting because my donors saving my life with the gift of life, just added at least 4 more lives to there gift of one liver!!!
I have never seen Dr. Lombardo’s name on here, but 6 years ago no one really knew who Dr. Chapman was or where Barnes was (Barnes is usually in top10 hopsitals!).!! Dr, Chapman and I have always talked about the fact transplants and resections need to be ruled out by doctors who believe it is an option for our cancer, way to many think it isn’t!!
Thanks for putting a new name for HOPE out there!!
CathyThanks for this Julie! And for sure it should be left on this page IMO, but perhaps you could repost as well over on the Surgery board as well. Stories like this certainly need to be heard!!
And yes, there certainly is hope!
Gavin
One more additional comment about my post above….to put things into perspective. Val’s post on the Facebook support group, was in response to someone who had been told that surgery for their CC was too difficult and chemo wouldn’t do any good.
This post and a couple others has brought a bunch of people out to post that they had surgery…or chemo 3-6 years ago, after being diagnosed at stage IV and told there was nothing to do for them. There IS hope.
Julie T.
Hi Julie, I am so glad you posted this story as HOPE is what we need and we can never stress enough to seek other opinions. It does not mean an ONC Surgeon is not good it means they are smart enough to have you get that other opinion if they have not had experience with CC. Great Post.
I’m not sure where to post this, so if one of the moderators thinks it should be somewhere else as well, let me know:
I’m also signed up for the Cholangicarcinoma Support Group on Facebook, for various reasons. I had thought I would drop off that list, but decided to stay on a while longer to try to be of some help there.
Today, I ran across a recent post by a lady who had the same surgeon as I did. I am going to type her post here as much word for word as I can because I think it might give some folks more hope for surgery if they go for another opinion with the right surgeon. Remember, the following is not my post, but that of someone else who had the same surgeon as I did:
By Val on the Cholangiocarinoma Support Group on Facebook:
“I went to Dr. Kaye Reid Lombardo at Mayo in Rochester MN. She specializes in liver resection surgery, My tumor was laying right between the lobes on the main artery. I was told at first it was too difficult because of the location so inoperable and that it would not respond to chemo,. Dr. Lombardo agreed to do the resection as it was my only hope. She indicated mine was in the top 4 of difficulty and took about 14 hours, I am now 4 years cancer free as she was able to get the tumor out fully encapsulated. She is a miracle surgeon and I strongly recommend you explore all the facilities and surgeon opinions and of course I highly recommend Dr. Lombardo at Mayo in Rochester, MN.”
Note: There was some personal contact info that I have left out of the post above.
For those of you who have been told no….or that nothing can be done, this is even more proof that with CC, we must go for those 2nd or more opinions to find the oncologist or surgeon who is willing to go out on a limb and try to make the impossible, possible. I know there are other surgeons out there who would possibly try this difficult surgery. We know, on this board who some of them are.
I agree with Val….Dr. Lombardo, at Mayo/Rochester, is among those doctors who will do the impossible…partly because they thrive on a challenge…but also because they will “try” in an effort to save a patient instead of following the standard line to be “safe”. No one would have faulted Dr. Lombardo if she said no in Val’s situation, (mine personally was a pretty easy decision)….Dr. Lombardo is in a class by herself. …….she didn’t take the easy way and say no.
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