I found out my pet scan showed progression in my liver. Onc said we will probably radiate the liver and try a different oral chemotherapy. He said I still have many options.
I am feelin so scared as this is my first ad scan since my metastatic diagnosis in July 2016.
Barbara,
I'm sorry to hear that your scan showed progression. Part of our rollercoaster ride, unfortunately. It looks like your oncologist wants to combine a local procedure like radiation with chemotherapy. I used two local procedures in my lung. First a wedge resection, or surgery to remove the part of my lung with the metastatic tumor. Even though the margins were clear, I felt devastated when the tumor returned a year later in the same area of the lung. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) was then used to ablate (burn) it. That has worked well, but we never know what the results will be.
Both surgery and interventional radiology procedures can be used in the liver. Besides RFA, IR procedures include cryoablation (freezing the tumor), microwave ablation and nano-electroporation (using electrical currents to kill the tumor). It's also possible to deliver chemotherapy and radioactive beads directly to the tumor using IR procedures. Here's a short 6-minute video about IR procedures. It's a bio page for an IR doctor, but a link to a 6-minute video on leading edge IR techniques can be found at the bottom of the page.
mskcc.org/cancer-care/docto...
Joan
Thank you very much Joan! Your response was very informative and I feel more hopeful as a result. The video explains the various options and I feel better equipped for my appointment with the onc in January 9.
I'm very grateful to you for your helpful response!
Excellent video. Thanks for sharing. I had a biopsy of my liver mets on Dec. 29 and am waiting to hear about clinical trials.
I will ask about clinical trials too. Thank you for your response.
Happy New Year!
When taxol stopped working for me I was switched to Femara plus continued Herceptin and Pejeta for my Her2 status. My next scan showed no evidence of disease. I was terrified when stopping but the oral meds actually worked better. My next scan is Tuesday. Good luck. You do have many options!!
Thank you! Hearing what others have to say about their similar situation is very helpful!
Hi Barbara!
I was diagnosed with metastatic last July also. Taking the Herceptin and Tamoxifen. Had Perjetta also. So far so good with the scans here. Rescanning in March.
Prayers that the new protocol works! Have a Happt New Year!
-Heather
Thank you Heather! You too!
I know how upsetting it is to get bad results. I was taking Kadcyla for 22 months and it was working great and I had very few side effects. I was devastated when it stopped working and it spread to the lymph nodes in my chest. My Oncologist started me on Tykerb and Xeloda in October and I just got my CT scan results December 23 and it showed no active cancer.
Don't give up. There are going to be some bumps along the way, but there are many good medications out there and many clinical trials. Keep your faith and keep fighting!!
Update: Xeloda vs Taxol
Taxol
Ibrance not working any longer.
Ibrance/Arimidex stopped working 😥
