unoperable klatskin tumor

Belle,
My husband had the same thing happen in June 06. They attempted surgery but discovered his klatskin tumor had involved too much of both bile ducts to be resected. They took out his gallbladder and biopsied some lymph nodes which were all negative and closed him up. He had no liver involvement. After recovery he had 5 weeks of IMRT radiation with Xeloda followed by brachytherapy. His tumor has gone away and they are actually telling him he is in remission-so there is hope. His only problem now is dealing with the stent. His bili had been climbing slightly and Fri he did not feel well and slept most of the day. Sat. he woke up itchy with yellowish eyeballs and dark urine. I made him drink lots of water and really watched his diet and by Monday he was much better but is going for stent replacement( or removal ) on Thurs. Does your sister have stents or drains in place?
I would seriously check about radiation. There are others on this board that have had good success with klatskin tumor shrinkage with a radiation/chemo combo or other types of radiation therapy. They are slow growing tumors so I feel that if you are able to shrink them significantly it will probably take a long time for them to grow back. Take care and try to stay positive! Mary