ajacquay

My dad had his first chemo (GEM/CIS) treatment yesterday. We visited with the doctor first to go over the results of the test he had sent off to a lab in CA and it was determined that the oncologist’s original diagnosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma was correct. The oncologist went over with us the fact that this type of cancer is not curable but it is treatable.

I spoke with my dad last night to see how he was feeling after the chemo and he said he felt great. I talked with him first thing this morning thinking he probably wasn’t going to be feeling so great and to my surprise, he again replied that he was feeling great! I talked to him a third time during lunch today and again, he is feeling great! The doctor told us that some people have little if any side effects from the chemo and then others have every side effect known.

For 2 weeks prior to his 1st chemo treatment my dad has been taking something called “hedgeapple” ….. it is a strange looking fruit that you freeze then you cut a couple of “pill” shaped pieces each day and take them. There has been research done that shows this fruit has the same effects on cancer that chemo does. I will have to do some more research on this fruit….sounds interesting. Has anyone else heard of hedgeapple or know anything about it?

We visited the surgeon today to get the results of Dad’s PET Scan….some good news and some bad news. The good news is that its seems the pancreas is not involved…it did not light up on the scan. The bad news is we still don’t really know where the cancer is coming from. The PET Scan also showed that a couple of the lymph nodes may be affected. There was also an area of concern found on one of his vertebrae (L4)…..a bone scan may be ordered in the near future. Tomorrow morning Dad will have is life port put in. Friday morning he will have an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, although the surgeon and the oncologist both seem to think there will be nothing found with either of those. The oncologist doing the chemo will start with gemcitabine and cisplatin (on Tuesday). We have been told that because the tumor is so large and because it is wrapped around the portal vein, that even if chemo does shrink the tumor, removal of the tumor and/or a liver transplant is not an option. I think we are going to be sending records to UVA and/or MD Anderson…..my dad’s words today “we’re going to lick this thing one way or another. Out damn cancer, OUT.” He is definately ready for a fight!!
Any information anyone can share about any of the cancer treatment centers would be greatly appreciated!