mlodge

Hi Lee,

My name is Melanie, I am being seen at Princess Margaret Hospital. My first encounter was with Dr Alice Wei – she works directly with Dr Cleary. Her number is 416-340-4232. Upon my very first appt with her, she actually admitted me to the hospital because my jaundice was so bad. She is a most compassionate woman. She was hopeful that surgery would be an option for me, but my tumour has surrounded my hepatic and portal veins and arteries. She referred me to the medical oncologist Dr Jennifer Knox who is trying to shrink the tumour with chemo – challenges with this one too.

I understand that Credit Valley is probably close to home for your family, but trust me – for this disease your family needs to go to Princess Margaret.

All the best,
Mel

Hi Kris,

I too have my ups and downs. It is crazy! You start to think that all is well, and maybe just maybe the treatment is working. Then bang, the doctors knock you on your ass and force you into reality. I hate it!

I started the combination gem/cis about a month ago. Scans are scheduled for the end of September. So far, I haven’t suffered with any side effects at all. Part of me is scared by this thinking that my body is fighting off the chemo – LOL. Anyhow, if this doesn’t work, I will be applying to a clinical study at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. They are working with Proton Beam Therapy. As long as there is something out there for me to try I will hold out some hope.

Remember – Losers quit when they’re tired, Winners quit when they’ve won!

All the best – keep pushing those doctors – they only know what they have seen/studied – they can’t predict how YOU will react to treatments.

Mel

Thank you Marion. I appreciate it.

Can anyone tell me the treatment schedule for the gemcis study that came out of the UK?

My doctors have me doing 30min gem and 1hr cis for 2 thursdays in a row then one week off. I just want to be sure they are following the protocol.

Thanks – Mel

Hi Marion,

I am being treated at Princess Margaret Hospital. They are wonderful, and really know their stuff. I feel the need to be more aggressive right now in my treatment as I feel healthy and feel I could take on a little more “punishment”. I have found that MD Anderson is performing treatment with proton beam therapy and chemo together. I am going to contact them to see if they can do anything for me – the problem with living in Canada is our health system. They are very conservative in what they spend money on. I believe the only place with a proton beam in canada is the university of BC and they are only treating patients with ocular cancer at the moment.

Thank you,
Mel

Hi All,

I am 37yrs old and have stage IV intrahepatic CC. They tried me on gem only for 3 mths. Didn’t really work. On Thursday this week they will start me on the combo of gem/cis. I have been getting radiation on this week o the tumor they found on my pelvic bone. They told me surgery is no longer an option. I have to ask – has anyone been at stage IV and then after chemo treatments been able to have surgery? I need a miracle – we all need a miracle!

Thanks,
Mel