A good direction

Had more chemo on Monday (27th) and found out my tumor markers had dropped slightly which pleased us. Also, we had been told the results of my last CT scan showed more tumor growth in the liver - but as it turns out, they had been comparing it to a 6 month old scan instead a more recent PET scan. Compared to the recent scan, the tumors had actually gotten a bit smaller rather than larger. Nothing massive but at least things are moving in a good direction.

Liver problems

We saw a doctor who does the SIRTS procedure. According to my oncologist, he's the best in the state. After comparing scans, he felt I should go ahead and have the procedure. He explained that it's actually 3 surgeries. One to map, one to shoot radioactive beads into one liver artery and the third to shoot the beads into a second liver artery. In the meantime, they want to keep me on chemo which becomes slightly complicated since I can't have chemo too close to the surgeries. After we had talked and decided I would go ahead and do this, the doctor's office called me that evening. My oncologist and the SIRTS doctor had put their heads together and decided I should wait and give the new chemo treatment more time to see if it would have a positive effect on the liver perhaps making it unnecessary to have the other surgeries. I'm all for not having surgery if I don't need it but it makes me a bit nervous to wait very long in case the chemo doesn't work on the liver. Right now, I've decided to take the doctors recommendation and wait. Hoping and praying this is the right decision for the moment.

My tumor markers were up again but the doc says he's not that concerned since the scans are the more accurate tests to go by. Thankfully, I'm not in any pain and my only real complaint is fatigue and some nausea the week of chemo. I think I can handle that.

CT scan results

I had another CT scan (which shows the chest and abdomen) on Wed. The dr called me yesterday with the results which were mixed. Everything was better - shrinking tumors - except the liver which showed more tumor growth. We had looked into a procedure several months ago called a SIRTS (don't know what that stands for) which is threading a catheter into the femoral (leg) artery and up into the liver where they inject radioactive beads. This involves 2 surgeries. The first one is when they "map" the area so when they are ready to inject the beads, they will know exactly where they are supposed to go. Unfortunately I must be awake during both procedures which doesn't sound like fun to me. I was very distraught when this was first brought up but in the meantime, I've been in contact with a very pro-active cancer patient named Suzanne who had this done herself and credits it for extending her life by years. She also didn't think the pain was too bad. It was very good to talk to her since she was able to give me a patients point of view and reassure me I could do this.

One thing that still makes me a bit nervous is that there is the possibility that in spite of the "mapping" they do, they might still get some of the radioactive beads in other organs nearby and this would definitely cause problems and pain. Because of this, I'd like to find an experienced doctor who has done this procedure many times. Right now, I don't know any.

I'm supposed to get an appt in the next week or so and proceed from there. Prayers are appreciated. Right doctor, right timing, etc.