sallypa
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the new year has started with terrible news. my sister met with drs and they told her the cholangiocarcinoma is metastatic. the tumors found on her ovary and her liver is cc. it is heartbreaking. she is only 47 yrs old. they told her the only option is chemo. i havent gotten the full information from her yet because she is so upset but she said they told her they are going to do a short term chemo followed by some kind of pill that is very strong and will have numerous side effects. they give no guarantee of anything. i am praying for a miracle. i dont know if anyone here can give me some added insight to this treatment, or suggestions or hope. i dont know what to do or where to turn. it is frightening.
my sister made it thru the surgery and is feeling as good as possible. dr told us he found 1 tumor in her liver and 3 in some fatty tissue also one on her ovary. all 5 were removed. he is concerned that the cancer is now metastatic but wont say for sure until he gets pathology report. we had hoped for better news but at least she had the surgery and i guess we start all over with chemo. we are thinking of going to sloane kettering for a 2nd opinion on chemo treatment.
THANK GOD. we just got a little christmas miracle. dr fraker didnt see any more tumors so he is going ahead with my sisters operation.
well, mri and pet scan are done. we had appt with dr today. they now see a tumor in my sisters ovary and another in her uterus. this is added to the previous one in her liver. she has been scheduled for surgery tomorrow for a few weeks. dr said today he is going to first look at those new tumors in the o.r.. if he doesnt see more than just what was shown on the mri and pet than surgery is still on. if he sees more than he cant do the surgery.he is afraid there are more microscopic cells or tumors there that arent visible on the scans. he said cc usually doesnt spread to that part of the body but in rare cases it has. we are praying all goes well tomorrow and he can remove the tumors. it has been such a hard six months. my sister is dealing with this. my father in law is having a hard time dealing with the radiation for his colon cancer. so many people in our family are being diagnosed with cancer. it is really hard to imagine. this doesnt make the season very merry. it is christmas and we are praying for a miracle.
i thought we had good news. we met with my sisters surgeon dr fraker and he said he could operate on the tumor. he scheduled surgery for december 15. after this meeting my sister had an ultrasound and now they have found a mass on her right ovary. i dont know what this means as far as surgery or treatment. dr fraker has not seen the results yet. a mri is scheduled on december 9. i dont know if this is the cc that has spread or if it is ovarian cancer. i am hoping and praying it is just a cyst or benign tumor. so far they are just calling it an adnexal mass and from my web searching that means it could be cancer or it could be benign. i couldnt find any reassurances. i just dont know how much more she can deal with. she is so brave and is always looking to make everyone else comfortable and happy. i am praying for the best.
my sister saw dr today about results from biopsy. dr said they took three samples from tumor and all came back negative for cancer. he wants to wait a few weeks and do another biopsy and see if tumor continues to grow. also wants us to talk to surgeon to see if it can be removed. my sister is still depressed as she feels it is cancer and they just probably did something wrong. i dont want to give her false hope at the same time i feel glad that the results were negative. she said dr gave no indication as to what it can be. this tumor is in the same place as the one that was taken out. is it possible it isnt cc? was wondering if anyone has had this experience or can give some kind of better explanation.
my sister had her biopsy today. we will get the results on friday. the tumor is one centimeter right now but apparently it is in a bad place. it is right near the main vein of the liver. they were very concerned about hitting this vein when they did the biopsy. i dont know what that means as far as treatment goes. i dont know if surgery will be an option. we just have to wait and pray. does anyone know if cyberknife surgery is precise enough to deal with a tumor in this location.
my sister is scheduled for a biopsy tomorrow. i have given her the information about having a pet scan to discuss with the dr but she said the dr knows that it is cancer and it is in the same spot as before. they told her last year if it returned they would not be able to do another surgery. we are praying for different answers tomorrow and maybe something positive. we dont know what to expect in the coming days and months. i dont really know how to give her hope. we are going to get 2nd and 3rd opinions but it is very frightening. if anyone has suggestions or success stories i would love to hear from you.
thank you all for your encouragement. PCL1029 i really appreciate your advice. i will talk to my sister about that. i dont know if they did a pet scan yet. its at least a hope that this could be something else. you also said that you had a second resection. i didnt know if that would be an option but now i see maybe it will be. thank you very much for the help. i will tell my sister about you to give her hope. god bless.
the day we have been praying would never come came today. it has been over a year since my sisters surgery and all scans had been clean after she completed chemo and radiation. i guess she still felt something was wrong so a mri was ordered. the results were a new tumor was found in the same location as the old one. we are all stunned and scared. the ct scans never showed it so we dont know how long it has been there. i dont know why they waited so long to order a mri. we dont know what the new plan will be. a biopsy was ordered to see if it is cholangiocarcinoma but we believe it is. it is horrible. it is almost like this cancer waited until we got things back to normal and felt good about her condition before it came back to destroy our lives again. it is so cruel! i feel numb right now. she is being so brave. i dont know what to do. when is the government going to stop funding wars all over the world and put the money into research so people dont have to suffer with these terrible diseases. i dont know what the drs will do with recurrance but we are praying they can help her. our family is dealing with a lot right now. my father in law underwent a second surgery for colon cancer and my mother in law had to be rushed to the hospital to have a pacemaker put in. at one point they were both in different hospitals at the same time. now this. they say god doesnt give you anything you cant handle. right now im not so sure. i pray He will take care of us. i am so sad right now.
hi everyone, i wanted to send a update with more good news for my sister. she has had her 2nd scan and still no recurrance. every day is a blessing. she is working again and doing well. while we all know this disease is always lurking around the corner and a lot more clean scans need to come back over the next few years at least we have hope. i continue to wish and pray for the best for everyone on this site. thank you all for your prayers and good wishes too.
sorry i havent posted lately. we have just been enjoying so much the results of my sisters first scan after completing chemo. thanks to God no cancer was found anywhere!!! she will go back every three months and hopefully the good results will continue. after the results we took a trip to italy that we had always dreamed of to celebrate. she did great. we all walked so much throughout the vacation in the heat and she was with us step for step. the cost was way out of our budgets but for this celebration it was well worth it. the road is still long but good news is always welcome.
thank you all for your good wishes and prayers i know it is helping her fight against this terrible disease.thank you for the good wishes. i have been trying to find articles on the internet about what could be causing the headaches but so far nothing too conclusive. her head scan is scheduled for monday. hopefully all will go well.
thank you all for your concern. my sister had her scan on friday. the good news was there is no sign of recurrence where the tumor was removed. we are very happy about that. the new problem is that she has been experiencing bad headaches recently. the drs now want to do a head ct scan to see if the cancer may have spread there. i was wondering if anyone had any experience with this or knows anything about this. there just never seems to be a time of relief with this disease. it is always something. also i was wondering if any one else has gotten headaches after completing the chemo-radiation cycle.
