handyman
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Hi Lilly,
My wife, whose Liver Cancer has mets’d to her lungs, is on 5 FU w/ Leucovorin + Irenotecan. The Irenotecan proved too rough for her so our Onc dropped it but continued on the rest. A new scan, 9/12/08 showed her Liver Tumor’s growth was slowing. The Lecovorin, as I understand it, is to help the 5 FU & Irenotecan work.
So end result = not a cure but can extend life is what they are telling us. Her bilirubin is 5.5, too high to continue on Irenotecan but ok for the 5 FU. My wife has tolerated the 5 FU pretty well, is very tired and sleeps a lot but can eat pretty well if she eats 6-7 small meals per day. Now they will insert a drain next week trying to help lower her bilirubin. If they can get that down, perhaps they can resume the Irenotecan.
BTW, this Chemo routine was suggest to us by M D Anderson, after our visit there. It is used primarily on Colon Cancer with some success. They are trying this on my wife to see if it will have any effect on CC. The plan is to slow, to then stop, to then reverse the tumor growth.
I don’t mean this to be negative because we are happy to have a plan that could work. I would approach it the same way with your husband, if I were you.
We pray you find success in this treatment.
Handyman
Jeff G,
Re my wife’s regimen of 5 FU, Irrenotecan & Leucovori, she experienced many of the same increased symptons you did. That is increase abdominal pain, water retention & swelling of the abdomen and legs, loss of appetite, extreme fatigue.
After her first session, her immune system was so flattened she picked up an infection and had to be hospitalized on antibiotics for 4 days. Since that time, her platelet count has been too low to continue the full program. They have resumed the 5 FU part of the chemo. She will try again next week for session two of the full chemo cocktail. Later in Sept, she will be scanned to see if this is doing any good.
In the interim, we don’t know if the tumors in her liver and lungs have slowed their growth or not. This is a tough program, one used mainly for colon cancer. We still hope it will work. It is her only chance, we think. It may just lengthen her life and is not expected to be a cure. She wishes to take this action.
Have you found any other clinical trials that might apply to your & her type of cancer?
Thanks.
Handyman
My wife has bilary duct cancer, has had liver resection, Mar 07, 3 bouts of chemo, Gemzar + Zeloda, plus radiation and did well for about 6 months til a recurrence this Jan, 08.
We follow clinicaltrials.gov and have visited two sites of these trials in person, Barnes in St Louis and M D Anderson in TX. It seems they want patients whose liver functions are more close to normal and also people who have not had more that one regimen of chemo. In some cases, they require people who have not even tried chemo yet.
Am I missing something in these clinical trial parameters? Have you found any clinical trials for people who have been through several chemo regimens?
Currenlty, my wife has started a new chemo regimen, recommended by M D Anderson of 5 FU, Irinotecan and Leucovorin. This is mostly a colon cancer regimen but they are hoping this may stop or slow her tumor growth. The disease has metastisized from her liver to her lungs and she has been told there is not much more they can do.
I don’t feel we should accept that.
Thank you for any info you can provide.
Handyman
violarob wrote:Hello!I am a new member of this forum. I live in Houston, TX. I was diagnosed in January of 2008, with an unusual variant of cholangiocarcinoma, known as mixed cholangiohepatocellularcarcinoma. If I understand correctly, it is supposed to be a hybrid of hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma. I was being treated at the Baylor Liver Center until April, and then was referred to MD Anderson Cancer Center. I look forward to exploring this web site, and contributing what I can to the discussion.
Violarob in Texas
I am new to this site as well. My wife was diagnosed w/ CC, Feb 07, had Liver resection, 3 Chemo’s and one with a Radiation program. She had done well til this year, Jan 08 when a mets to her lungs was confirmed. We looked for clinical trials since it was recommended by our Oncologist here in KC and since there was not much more they could do here for her. We visited Barnes/Mayo clinical trial in St Louis and M D Anderson in Houston. Both times my wife did not qualify for the clinical trial due to elevated Liver functions. Anderson did recommned a chemo regimen for her and we are having that administered here in KC.
We visited with Dr Ahmed Kaseb. He has taken over for Dr Melanie Thomas. He has a trial program going now but you have to have the HER 2 receptors to participate. My wife did not, perhaps you do. Anderson will run the tests for you.
My suggestion is to explore the clinical trials available before you do too much chemo. Too much chemo makes you less qualified for the clinical trials from what we can tell ( they call it Cytotoxic). We were impressed with Anderson and think they are one of the best.
Good luck.
Handyman
JeffG wrote:Kristen … I started with resection of liver and gallbladder over nine years ago at Mayo in Rochester, Mn. They are a great teaching school of medicine in my opinion. Although my CC returned and mets all over My Oncoligist now in Kansas is at least up with the times and follows other major hospital protocals. He follows Sloan,kettering memorial and Mayo protocals primarily and he stays in touch with whats new coming out of the NCI. Excellent surgeons and Oncologist at both. It’s your choice young lady. Don’t rule out possible 3-D conformal radiation. Iv’e had what I consider two treatments on two different locations with positive results. wish you the best in your decision making.
Bless Ya!
Jeff G.Hi Jeff,
Noticed you mentioned KS as your current treatment location. My wife, who has CC, is in KC and she is being treated by Dr Stephen Williamson, Oncologist @ KU Med.. At this stage all he has to offer is palliative in my opinion. It sounds as if you received some more in depth care. Who is your Oncologist and where are you receiving treatment?
Thanks for your help.
Handyman
Hi Jeff G (Moderator),
Thanks for the advice, it helps to know what to expect and what to try to alleviate associated symptoms. I wish you the best for your next checkup.
handyman
Hi Lana,
Found a similar thing with my wife after a visit to M D Anderson. Liver functions too high to get into clinical tests. What a surprise, someone with Liver disease has high liver functions. M D did recommend a triple cocktail for her, 5fu, irinotecan, leucovorin which we are going to try here at home. This cocktail has worked on Colon Cancer so this will be a new attempt on CC. She previously has tried Gemzar + Zeloda and they did not work. I wonder if any one else has tried these Chemos ? If so how rough were they and did you get any results?
Handyman
