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Suzanne, I had a long conversation yesterday with a nurse at Wake Oncology, one of the best sir-spheres (radioembolization) practices. My conclusion (which is by no means professional) is that radio is the best way to go. For us, some of the questions are logistics because my dad is 2 hours form their practice; however the side effects of the sir-spheres are far less than the chemo, at least as I understand it. While there are no guarnatess, it does seem that sir-spheres treatment has better results. The other big question is what will your insurance cover.
Good luck!
A friend of mine who lost his partner suggests reading Conversations With God by Neil Donald Walsch and The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. I know that is little consolation, but I hope it is a start. Now it is time to take care of yourself. I’m so sorry for your loss.
Suzanne, again I will chime in, but I am new at this too. As I understand it:
Radioembolization is the same as chemoembolization in terms of method, but uses a radioactive material instead. That places some limitations on the patient as they are radioactive for a few days and can’t be around pregnant women or small children or sleep in the bed with their spouse, etc as proximity is the key.
Additionally, my dad’s oncologist explained that radio can cause arterial damage that could prohibit further treatment, so he likes to begin with chemo since it doesn’t cause the same damage.
Check out sirtex.com also for a specific radio treatment that seems to have good results.
Suzanne, I don’t know the answer to your question, but my father will begin chemoembolization soon and I will post here about how he fares.
My dad had a liver needle biopsy and much like your dad, he can tolerate quite a bit. I am not sure he had a lot of pain afterwards, just during, but if he complains, it must have really hurt. Given what they do, I would imagine it would be painful for a day or two.
They did keep my dad for a while after to make sure he wasn’t bleeding internally. Do they do that for lungs too? Does he have have any bruising, swelling, redness, fever?My father was just diagnosed, so thankfully we are not at this stage. My family does have experience with it with my grandfather and three of my aunts.
One thing that is so important is for family members to tell their loved one that it is okay to go. Hospice gave us this advice and it was so true. My aunt hung on for her son and my mom. When they were both gone, I quietly told her what they couldn’t and that she should let go and they would be fine. She died early the next morning.
Prayers for all.
I found this website about Y90/sirspheres.
Chuck’s story on there tells about how they strong armed an insurance company into paying. Might be worth contacting them to get more info.
Good luck
http://www.y90support.org/yes/Stories.html
My father had colon cancer and his surgery was as successful as your father’s. He did follow up with chemo for a year and had no side effects. He has been cancer free for 13 years until his CC diagnosis two weeks ago, which is NOT a return of the colon cancer.
My thought would be to try it. If he doesn’t tolerate it well, then stop. If he does, is there any harm? (I know weakened immune system, but I am not sure if there are others?)Wow, Carol, sorry to hear you are having a tough time.
As far as oncologists, we have seen Dr Paschold once and really liked him. We have a second opinion appointment with Dr. Shen at Baptist.
If you still need the handicapped parking tag, see Charlie’s primary care physician.
Please look on the experiences board at the thread on Yttrium 90. There are two links there regarding insurance.
good luck!
Carol,
So far that is all that I know about insurance. Mary England has been most helpful so far.
I would love to meet you both. You are practically neighbors of my parents; they are close by the intersection of Shattalon and Yadkinville RD.
I will use the email link to give you my contact info. I will be up there next Monday and Tuesday of next week if you guys are free and up for it. If not then, I am sure I will be there regularly.
