I met with my doctor/surgeon yesterday (6/9) to review my surgery and pathology of my liver/tumor. A couple of “new” developments came up. My doctor had presented my case at a weekly council/meeting of other doctors at MDA … basically to review everything about my liver cancer, obtain other inputs/opinions, etc.
First, no cancer was found anywhere in the lymph nodes and there were no signs of any metastatic cancer (i.e. the cancer had not spread outside of the liver to any other organs). However, due to the closeness of the tumor to where they had to “cut” the liver (i.e. to the remaining 25% good part) and nearby remaining blood vessels, they’re recommending a preventive treatment of chemo with radiation - called adjuvant therapy. It’s possible there could be some minute traces in the blood vessels in the liver area and that’s why they’re recommending these treatments.
But, my chemo/radiation treatments will be less intense and less toxic than what most are familiar with. Those other treatments are used for actually killing existing cancers within your body … and typically one may loose their hair, appetite, become weak, and such. However with my treatments, since I have no cancers to kill, they’re saying it’s more a preventative measure … sort of like insurance. The doctor wanted to err on the side of caution rather than possibly allow the cancer more of a chance to come back.
So, starting in about 3 weeks, I’ll begin a 5-week course at MDA for this (once a day Mon to Fri … so 25 total days). Some of this might overlap my still being out of work, but once I do go back to work, figure I’ll try to arrange some type of ½ day work schedule and hope to go in the afternoons for my treatments. Each day treatment takes only less than an hour. But, with driving, parking, etc. probably would be 2-3 hours total time … which is why going in the afternoons makes better sense.
They also removed the staples from my incision area and said that’s healing well. Plus with my liver resection, they removed my gallbladder … so at least now I won’t have to worry about getting any gallstones in the future!!!!
All in all I’m feeling better each day. Eating better, too … trying to eat more protein which they say helps with the liver regeneration. I’ve lost some weight since the surgery and my problem has always been GAINING weight, so that’s going to be tuff for me. Also, probably won’t be able to drive until about 2 weeks.
I’ll finish by saying I certainly didn’t expect this is how I’d spend my “summer vacation”, but when I consider what the alternative might have been … maybe it’s not too bad a way to spend it after all!!!!
First, no cancer was found anywhere in the lymph nodes and there were no signs of any metastatic cancer (i.e. the cancer had not spread outside of the liver to any other organs). However, due to the closeness of the tumor to where they had to “cut” the liver (i.e. to the remaining 25% good part) and nearby remaining blood vessels, they’re recommending a preventive treatment of chemo with radiation - called adjuvant therapy. It’s possible there could be some minute traces in the blood vessels in the liver area and that’s why they’re recommending these treatments.
But, my chemo/radiation treatments will be less intense and less toxic than what most are familiar with. Those other treatments are used for actually killing existing cancers within your body … and typically one may loose their hair, appetite, become weak, and such. However with my treatments, since I have no cancers to kill, they’re saying it’s more a preventative measure … sort of like insurance. The doctor wanted to err on the side of caution rather than possibly allow the cancer more of a chance to come back.
So, starting in about 3 weeks, I’ll begin a 5-week course at MDA for this (once a day Mon to Fri … so 25 total days). Some of this might overlap my still being out of work, but once I do go back to work, figure I’ll try to arrange some type of ½ day work schedule and hope to go in the afternoons for my treatments. Each day treatment takes only less than an hour. But, with driving, parking, etc. probably would be 2-3 hours total time … which is why going in the afternoons makes better sense.
They also removed the staples from my incision area and said that’s healing well. Plus with my liver resection, they removed my gallbladder … so at least now I won’t have to worry about getting any gallstones in the future!!!!
All in all I’m feeling better each day. Eating better, too … trying to eat more protein which they say helps with the liver regeneration. I’ve lost some weight since the surgery and my problem has always been GAINING weight, so that’s going to be tuff for me. Also, probably won’t be able to drive until about 2 weeks.
I’ll finish by saying I certainly didn’t expect this is how I’d spend my “summer vacation”, but when I consider what the alternative might have been … maybe it’s not too bad a way to spend it after all!!!!
