This post is an answer to Patrice’s comment at Sad secondary liver cancer news, please give your support!
Patrice cancer advice
Summarized: Patrice says that
- you need to get a second opinion and
- spend a lot of time with the person you love.
Patrice’s cancer story
I am not sure about the differences in treatment between primary liver cancer and secondary, but I do know first-hand how devastating the primary liver cancer diagnosis can be.
My brother was diagnosed with it 3 years ago. I expect this should be encouragement enough. 3 years ago!
We were told his life expectancy would be about 6 months, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t think he would live the two months till the end of the summer.
I think it is important for anyone who gets a grim diagnosis to explore treatment options in more than one place, and preferably, in more than one state.
As we have learned, each state has different rules concerning things like organ transplantation, and certainly each institution has different approaches toward treatment.
Be as proactive as possible and spend a lot of time with your family (if you like them!). Best wishes to all who are fighting…
Metastatic liver cancer story
The basic difference between primary cancer treatment and secondary cancer treatment is:
- with primary cancer you "only" need to treat 1 cancer
- with secondary cancer you need to treat at least 2 cancers
Cancer treatment is still barbaric and medieval: you cut away the cancer or you try to kill it with chemicals hoping they will only kill the cancer and not the entire patient. Simple maths tell you that with secondary cancer you will need more toxins…
But Patrice is right:
- every cancer case is different
- you do need to look for the best treatment worldwide
Especially in the US having the best facilities ever, if you cannot pay for it, it’s useless.
Liver Cancer Prognosis
Patrice’s brother’s prognoses was 6 months and he already lives for 3 years
Father’s metastatic liver cancer prognoses was 3 to 6 months and after 2 months it was clear that he wouldn’t reach 6 months.
Doing a prognosis is never easy, I mean: can you tell yourself how long you will live? Not really. yet you see the difference between 3 to 6 months in father’s case and 6 month’s in Patrice’s brother’s case.
Also you need to know that a primary cancer has more chance to get a longer prognosis than a secondary cancer.
My nephew’s liver cancer story
My nephew has lived 2 years from the moment his liver was diagnosed with cancer (just doing a "check up because it was a cheap offer, so he didn’t feel bad to start with. My father did feel bad already, so again that’s another story).
He had primary liver cancer due to most likely hepatitis because of a dentist visits ages before… He was a specialist himself so he did trace the source back there.
The "good thing" about a liver is that it can function quite reasonably even at 33%, the bad thing is when you start going slowly under 33% and the patient’s will to survive is stronger than his liver. Especially when the care-takers available can help out big time, which in our case was 24/7 done by my mom and all the help she could get.
"All the help she could get" in an ideal world is still way to little, so be prepared for that as well.
In the end it’s not just about cancer: it’s about
- money you have to buy medicine, treatment,
- knowledge and resources you can tap in
- all the help you can get from professionals but especially from your loved ones
@Sandy
Our deepest condolences.
We elaborated further on Sandy’s comment at Sandy & Mandy : Angiosarcoma of the liver & Metastatic Liver Cancer
My father died of secondary liver cancer nearly 12 months ago. He was diagnosed on the first year anniversary of my mothers death, he passed away 6 weeks later with us around him. He went down hill so fast. He had 2 primary cancers, the prostate and bowel, and had 4 secondarys, the lymph glands, bones, pancreas and liver. My dad was positive and thought he would last longer than he actually did. He did not get offered chemo or radiation as it was too advanced and aggressive by the time it was found. My advice to everyone is, don’t accept one doctors opinion. If my dad had a different doctor he may be here now, his treatment was not good and he should have been offered chemo after his first bowel operation. It will not help now, so I can’t recommend more that everyone should listen to their body and get a second opinion if you aren’t happy.
My grandmother died of liver cancer in 1990–no drinking, no hep C. She went really fast. I’m glad that there’s a blog like this getting the information out there on different treatments.
Anyhow, I have heard of many people having luck with the original whole fruit mangosteen juice, which has natural anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties.
I wish my grandmother could have tried it.