barbara
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Asher, yes, I too had a tumor that burst in October. I am 60 and on chemo since Nov and don’t have any pain or side effects from the chemo so far. With 5 infusion treatments my main liver tumor has shruk by 50% and the same is true for the small spots that ended up in the abdominal cavity due to the bursting of the tumor. There was a lot of liquid then and I don’t understand how it is now solid. I just heard from Dr. Giap who reviewed my scans and he suggests I stick with chemo for now since it is working. I have an appt in March at the Scottsdale Mayo clinic. I agree, get a few opinions.
Dave,
I was diagnosed in October and put on Zeloda and Gemzar and I have just had my 4th chemo treatment but I don’t know yet if it is working since I won’t have a new scan until after 6th treatment in mid January. I have read on this site that some do well on it and it stopped working in another after only 7 months. I have a big tumor that burst and spread to my abdominal cavity so I can’t have surgery either. I have been feeling pretty good until this 4th treatment. I find that if I eat little bits often and don’t let my stomach empty I do better. I am also taking compazine which really helps. The not sleeping part is hard since I wake up more tired than when I went to bed. My understanding is that the chemo is to increase quality of life for the time we have. I am going to try and stay as long as I can but I am also realistic. I know how you feel.I looked up Sweet ‘N Low and it does not contain aspartame but has saccharin. I don’t know if there is anything aspartame and saccharin have in common, but another has answered that her father used a lot of saccharin before switching when others became available.
I used saccharin in the early days, too, in tea. I am 60. So far 4 out of 7 of us drank Diet Colas. I will let everyone know the final tally. Looks a little worrisome.
LuLu,
My tumor filled with fluid and broke open. The surgical oncologist I saw at first said it could have been because the center of the tumor died and it broke open or just because it was getting too big. I didn’t receive an injury or anything. I didn’t know I had the tumor and then had pain under the rib cage and then fever. I had to have a Jackson-Pratt drain with a tube coming out of my liver for 2 weeks to drain off the fluid. That situation has resolved itself but my liver remains tattered and torn at the end from when the tumor bursting. I don’t know yet the specific name of mine (hep or what) but I will find out at dr. on Monday.I, too, was diagnosed in Oct with stage IV but my tumor burst. I am being treated at UCSD and have thought about going to Mayo in Scottsdale since we are just off Hwy 8 east of San Diego. I am on chemo. Do they have a lot of experience there with cc? Nice to hear from you.
Barbara H.
Who I Dr. Lenz and where is he located? I would like to contact him, too, since I was just recently diagnosed in Oct. Thanks.
Barbara LoweI live near San Diego and am being treated at UC San Diego by the digestive cancer group of oncologists at the Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla.
Thank you both for your replies to my postings. I live in the outer San Deigo area and was diagnosed at Grossmont Community Hospital. I had pain under my right rib cage for about a week and then developed a fever. I ended up in the hospital there where they felt the liver tumor that burst was an adenocarcinoma and a secondary source so they spent 12 days looking for the primary, which they never found. They wanted to put me on a more generalized chemo and I had little confidence in them so I went to a surgical oncologist, Dr Lawrence Wagman, who just left City of Hope in LA to head the Cancer Center in Orange at St Joseph’s Hospital. He thought he could operate until he took his own scan and saw more areas in my abdomen. He diagnosed it as cc. He referrred me to a medical oncologist at UC San Diego and that is where I am receiving treatment. I have had one chemo treatment so far with Gemzar and tablets of Xeloda. Two weekly treatments and then one week off. I am 60 and the only one in my family to every have cancer so they hit my family and me like a truck. I would appreciate any advice, answers, etc. UCSD is a clinic setting where I only see the doctor every 3 weeks. I want to be proactive about this and fight. Do these things shrink? Thank you all.
