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Dear SIL,
Im so sorry to hear the update about your sister in law and the change in her condition. But as Bonnie said “make the best of everyday” is the most important now.Hugs,
HughHi Andra, I totally understand how u feel…. your government Hospital situation almost same as what happened to my wife…
She 1st diagnosed with CC at Government hospital… they did CT scan and ERCP to place stent to relieve symptoms in 3 days then 2 days later, they ask her to go home and wait 1week to see specialist.
1 week later when we see the specialist, he said they need to have the PET scan (which we need to pay for) before they can do anything, so he ask us to do that and come back next week.
So I ask him let say if we have the Scan and most likely what will you do.. then he said surgery if the scan is clear and only CC and did not metastasized… (but if scan shows the cancer has metastasized then they just give her the time frame and they might not to do the surgery)
then I ask how long do I have to wait for surgery if the scan is good… he said 5-6 weeks. So that means total of 8 weeks since the day she diagnosed CC to the day she can do the surgery…??? I really don’t want to wait and cannot take the chance to let it metastasize.. so I went to private and have the surgery done in 3 days after that meeting with government specialist.
Yes it cost more than a year of my salary for that surgery, but somehow I think it worth it… she cut out half of her liver and she can leave hospital in 5 days… (I read some local forum ppl said usually half liver surgery at least 2-3weeks stay at hospital)
PCL1029: so u can read and write Chinese?? try this http://www.discuss.com.hk/forumdisplay.php?fid=855
eli: thanks for your advise.. I asked Dr. Chow and the Government Dr.the same question (do RT private and Chemo at government), but they both rejected and said who will be responsible if anything happen…
about those Dr. that involved im not sure should I put their full name up here.. but Ill just leave their last name here…
Dr Chow is the oncologist that suggest the IMRT+Xeloda , she was saying if GEM/CIS can lower the recurrence chance by 10-30%, then IMRT+Xeloda should be around 40-60%.
I understand those numbers is kind of BS, but at least we don’t need to be regret if its recurrence when we did try our best.
also why we chose Dr Chow is becoz she refer by the Dr. we really trust, a private Dr. in HK that don’t have the $ in her eyes!!! she treat her patient as a friend, she did this HUGE surgery to my wife and my wife can leave hospital in 5days!!! she so amazing!!! Dr. B Chik!!!
well the worst part about HK government hospital Dr. is everything they need to go by the book and policy, they wont tell u more than what they can do there.. so they will kind of give u hint about there “might be” something better out there… that’s means they think out there might be better if u can effort, or they will say there are no different compare to private. then u know u don’t need to waste your time and money.( that’s what a relative whos a Dr. works at Government Hospital said)
well yes its really tough to start a forum like this in China. but other than China I think should be easy for u to do so. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore should be good to start with. people from these country should be able to speak or read simply English.
About my wife’s tumor, after the resection the report like this:
Moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of common bile duct, with maximal tumor dimension 25mm
Gallbladder with features of chronic cholecystitis
upper end of common bile duct involved by tumor
tumor invading the periductal soft tissue and liver parenchyma
5 out of 7 hilar lymph nodes with metastases
lymphovascular permeation identified
clear resection margins
pT2N1 stageo Hi PCL1029: so u also from HK!!! nice meeting u!! well u know we cannot choose Dr. at Government Hospital.. isn’t it???
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome… i’m back with my 3rd opinion..
This Dr. seems kind of soft and not really aggressive.. he just prefer to use Gemcitabine and oxaliplatin for Chemo.. then after 10-15min talks about it and I finally raise up about RT then he start saying its better with RT only if u can effort…. he even said Gemcitabine and Cisplatin is good option other than the side effect is a bid more than Gemcitabine and oxaliplatin…
so we decided to use the 2nd opinion… IMRT with Xeloda…. although nobody can tell is that the best idea.. but what we felt is we rather try the aggressive way instead of just seat and wait.
Thanks PCL1029: yes Queen Mary is the best Government Hospital in HK and that’s where I got my 1st opinion. but the problem is they also didn’t got enough statistics information that prove other medicine/treatment will work on CC, so they cannot give anything other than Gemcitabine and Cisplatin, that’s why the professor kind of suggested us to go get 2nd opinion from private (she said im not saying the Gemcitabine and Cisplatin are useless or outdated, but there might be something better or newer out there). some other cancer like bowel cancer, Breast Cancer they will let u choose either pay on your own to buy better medicine/treatment or free for the standard.
Thanks Randi and Lainy,
the 1st opinion is from HK government hospital. due to the lack of statistics information that prove other medicine will work on CC, they will only provide this GP treatment to those who want to try using it as adjuvant.
the 2nd opinion is from private Dr. who think we should be more aggressive, which should try IMRT to those lymph nodes around the liver area, the Dr. thinks that’s the most likely place those cells still hiding.. then Xeloda should be a much better Chemo with lower side effects…
Dr said if the GP can give u 10-30% chance to clear the cancer cells, the aggressive treatment can give u up to 50-60% chance. but the price will be around 40K USD.
Ill be seeing another Dr. tomorrow to get 3rd opinion, lets see what will he say, and Ill keep you guys update.
Thanks
