tford
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My father-in-law had stents placed and they were changed every 3-4 months for palliative care and this was done 6 times. Not to bad for a 6 month prognosis at iniatial diagnosis. He finally lost his battle after 23 months. I would also suggest a biopsy as Jeff stated, after all how can you treat the unknown. I wish you and your mom the best of luck and I am thinking of you.
TFORD
figen,
My father in law was on Genxar (gemcitabine) and Xeloda (capacitabine for his cholangio and they actually helped out as his tumor markers went down. The Gemzar gave him very little side effects but the Xeloda gave him mild hand foot sydrome and diarhea. Figen if you go to google and put in cholangiocarcinoma chemo you can learn of these drugs also pub med has listings. Hope this helps you and your mom for they can buy you some time but not a cure.
God Bless,
TFORD
Irene,
I would advise you to seek a second oppinion after all your husbands results are in. You can read about my F-N-Laws experiences in the introductions. We sent copies of all his scans and biopsy reports to MD Andersons and they got back to us promptly. They pretty much told us the same thing his onocologist did with the exception of don’t look at the statisics every body is different. His prognosis was 6months to a year and that was on 1/3/05 and he is still with us. Irene the chemo will not cure cholangiocarcinoma but it can slow it down. My F-N-law had a tube and stents placed in the bile duct to bypass the tumor to drain bile externally in a bag which worked out really well for him. After that he started a regimine of chemo consisting of Gemzar for approximately 6 months which did wonders with minor side effects. After that the drug of choice was Xeloda which also took his tumor markers down. Now he is taking Tarceva which is used for pancreatic cancer and we won’t know if this is working until his next scan on 9/11/06. If your husbands cancer is’nt metastised else where he could be a surgery candidate which that is the only long term survival statistic there is. My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your husband. If there is anymore info you would like just ask and i will reply.
God Bless,
TFORD
Hello Jules,
My F-IN-Law experienced mild hand-foot syndrome along with mild diarhea from the Xeloda but the side effects weren’t enough to keep him down. The Tarceva however is really knocking his energy level down , he has to keep a watchfull eye on his blood pressure from dipping to low along with stomach pain that the onocologist says is not the cancer spreading, also he experiences a very dry mouth at which he is taking a drug to produce saliva which makes him mad because he drools. I hope this helps your father and you as a care-giver make life easier in determining the route of which chemo to take. My F-IN-LAW is scheduled for a scan on 9/11/06 to see if the Tarceva is doing the job and I will keep you posted.
God Bless,
TFORD
Jules,
My father-in-law has cholangio with metasis to both lungs. Gemzar with Xeloda knocked his tumor markers down and he is doing well. He is now taking Gemzar and tarceva together and these are also keeping the cancer at bay. He was diagnosed with unresectable intra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma with metastasis to both lungs on 1/3/05 and is still hanging in there with a possitive attitude which is helpfull. I hope the info helps but remember not all people react the same way to the chemo.
God Bless,
TFORD
