Background: My sister (then 31) diagnosed with extrahepatic CC in Sept 2008 (1cmx1cm). Whipple + 6 mo. adjuvant Gemzar/Xeloda. Clean scans until Sept 2011 (2cmx2cm necrotic lymph node near porta hepatis).
Sister started SBRT this week and has 4 more treatments. She says it feels like someone punched her in the stomach and then microwaved her guts. So that sounds like it sucks. We’re hoping she gets mutant powers out of all of this. She’s hoping for Wolverine powers. I want her to get telepathy. Neither of us want her to get Spiderman or Hulk powers.
We reached out to USC for a second opinion on treatment but never heard back. Not a big deal as we had our Hem/Onc doctor do a peer consult with Mayo and other doctors at UCLA. Basically he said what most on this board already know; there isn’t strong data showing the effectiveness of adjuvant chemo and a few colleagues suggested doing nothing because the SBRT will have eliminated all detectable amounts of cancer. The majority was in favor of some chemo and our doctor favored aggressive chemo considering my sister’s age and general health.
We’re all in favor of aggressive treatment so this is music to our ears (although my sister hates needles so she’s dreading chemo again). The doctor wants to start another 6 mo. cycle of 5FU+Oxilplatin+Irinotecan about a month after she finishes radiation. Any thoughts on the drugs/treatment plan or what X-Men powers we’ve overlooked?
+andrew