Metastatic Liver Cancer

Join our metastatic liver cancer support group to get answers from secondary liver cancer survivors and palliative care givers like you and me.

Metastatic liver cancer survivors

 

Yes you can beat metastatic liver cancer if you do everything right like Jim's son and our other 5 secondary liver cancer survivors:

 

  1. believe there is a cure : believe it like you believe the sun will rise tomorrow
     
  2. use conventional medicine like chemotherapy, surgery and/or radiation therapy
     
  3. use holistic alternative cancer treatments to boost your immune system
     
  4. cultivate a healthy body with a healthy spirit: less stress, more relaxation, a hobby you love, prayers and a healthy diet based on organic products
     
  5. make sure you have money or good health insurance to buy what you need from the above
     
  6. surround yourself with as many loving and helpful creatures you can find: according to pancreatic cancer patient Patrick Swayze: you even "gotta have a dog"

 

Palliative Care

 

A terminal patient is like a snowman melting away in the sun...

 

home health care

 

Ideal palliative care has 1 person taking care 24/7 of the palliative patient:

 

 

Palliative care means giving the patient as much "quality of life" as possible...

 

For father quality of life meant anything that made him smile:

 

 

Regular visitors continue here, new visitors please read father's last contributions to this site:

 

 

Jackie 43 years old passed away to metastatic liver cancer

metastatic liver cancer treatment

Why does Jackie passes away at 43 and Trish at 43 is a metastatic liver cancer survivor? 

Please leave your hugs and support for Paul who shared his secondary liver cancer story at Can chemotherapy cure metastatic liver cancer?

 

metastatic liver cancer cure

 

Paul’s metastatic liver cancer story

 

Hi

I’ve just lost my partner Jackie 43yrs old to Cancer Metastatic Liver Disease with an unknown primary.

 

Jackie had symptoms for only four and a half weeks before peacefully passing away at home.

 

Jackie never smoked or drank and had a active lifestyle looking after two Children 10 and 5 yrs old.

 

My self and my children are devastated.

 

Paul

 

Please leave your hugs and prayers in a comment. If you have been in a similar situation, please leave a comment.

 

metastatic liver cancer cure

 

Why is Trish treated for cancer and Jackie isn’t?

 

When I read Trish’s secondary liver cancer survival story, I see 2 huge differences with father:

 

  1. father had an unknown primary, Trish has a clearly defined rectum cancer
     
  2. father was 75 when diagnosed, Trish 43

 

My first idea was: Trish is so much younger and stronger than father, so it’s understandable that her cancer survival rate would be better than father’s.

 

But Jackie is also 43…

 

So it’s obvious that the "unknown primary cancer" plays a huge roll in making the decision to treat and cure cancer or not.

 

I do remember father’s oncologist saying that since the primary cancer was unknown, his chemotherapy would have been a very aggressive cocktail in order to try to kill the cancer nobody could find in the first place.

 

Trish’s primary is rectum cancer; clearly defined and she has been given Oxaliplatin, 5FU and recently Irinotecan for chemotherapy. If 3 chemo medicines are needed for rectum cancer, I cannot even start to imagine what is needed to kill an unknown primary cancer.

 

In end up comparing treating metastatic liver cancer with primary rectum cancer as getting hit by a sniper:
 

 

I compare treating metastatic liver cancer with unknown primary as being shot from top to bottom with a machine gun…

 

 

Why is the primary cancer so important when treating secondary liver cancer

 

Metastatic liver cancer is a cancer that is sitting in your liver after traveling
around from its source ‘where it was born’.

 

Making sure no new cancers travel to your liver means you need to kill the cancer at the source.

 

In Trish case, her source is rectum cancer, which has been treated with Radiotherapy. Once that is successful, she is on a "good road".

 

Suppose in an ideal situation father would have had his liver tumors removed, without having found nor treated his primary cancer, it would be just a matter of time before the metastatic liver cancer would return.

 

How to treat an unknown primary? Logically to be sure, you need to treat it as if it was a colon cancer and lung cancer and prostate cancer and … You will end up being given an extremely aggressive chemotherapy as any other cancer treatment won’t be a valid option.

 

metastatic liver cancer cure

 

Too many people are passing away from metastatic liver cancer. Again all our hugs and prayers for all of you and today in particular for Paul and his family.

3 Comments

Metastatic liver cancer survivor

metastatic liver cancer survivorAfter more than 100 secondary liver cancer stories told by loved ones, we are happy to introduce you to Trish who left her comment at Metastatic liver cancer mind games.

 

Thrish is seemingly using all the cancer treatments out there to survive metastatic liver cancer for more than 21 months after being diagnosed.

 

You can hear a positive state of mind tone throughout Trish’s cancer story: we all know that the first rule of survival is keeping a positive attitude.

 

But it’s ‘not all fun and games’ as Trish mentions she hated the doctor who gave her only 4 to 6 months to live. And her cancer treatment seems to be an ongoing process…

 

We would love to hear from you again Trish : anytime – before and after taking muscle relaxants :-) . We also love to hear from all care-givers with your cancer story!

 

metastatic liver cancer cure

 

And we imagine Trish had "Oxaliplatin" and "Irinotecan" for chemotherapy?

 

Here goes Trish metastatic liver cancer story

 

Hello

 

I’m 44 years old, will be 45 soon, Thank God, I was supposed to die when I was 43. I was diagnosed December 2006.

 

The doctor that delivered the news (who I hated for about 6 months mind you) gave me 4 to 6 months to live, he told me to get my things in order and go sit at a vineyard, enjoy some wine and watch the sunset.

My Husband and I said that I would gladly sit and enjoy it, if I could sit down. I had a tumour the size of a small can of drink on my rectum, it couldn’t be operated on, so he sent me to a radiologist.

When I met the radiologist, I asked her never to tell me how long I have to live, I think she wrote it on my documents, my oncologist doesn’t tell me either.

The radiologist crammed 30 treatments into 10, I also had chemo attached to me, being metered over a week at a time for 2 weeks.

The obvious after the Radiotherapy was the burns, I was burnt inside and out, back and front for about 3 weeks. I pretended it didn’t hurt, I did have to ask for pain killers in the end though, but once the burning healed, I was off the morphine.

1 week later I started Chemotherapy (Oxcilliplatin & 5FU 46hr infusion) I managed 12 and a bit fortnightly treatments of this

(I think my oncologist likes to push things to the limit, which I think is great for me), the largest tumour on my liver had decreased by half. I was stoked. My oncologist let me have 6 months off with just the fortnightly 46hr infusion of 5FU.

After another cat scan, a couple of my tumours had grown a little, so back onto the big chemo again (Ironotecan this time, I find it dastardly, it knocks my white cells for a 6, has put my in hospital a couple of times, had a nice rest there though), tomorrow I’ll be going in for my 12th cycle of 12,(hopefully I’ll get a little break from chemo again, fingers crossed).

My tumour markers have been under 3 for over 1 year now.

 

I think in all the time I have been on chemo (20 months now), I have always believed that a cure will eventually be found, and if I can stay strong and healthy enough till it’s found, I like to believe that I will be one of the first survivors of secondary metastatic liver cancer.

 

I have been very fortunate to be able to cope pretty well with the chemo, it’s funny, my Mum takes me to the hospital on Chemo days and everybody directs conversation to her, until she rolls her eyes and points her thumb at me. Fortunately I haven’t all lost my hair, it’s thinned a bit though, unfortunately though, I’ve put on 14 kilos since starting chemo. ( I guess taking the steroids to stop vomiting is worth it, I feel sorry for myself when I vomit, and feeling sorry for myself is not something I do often), I’m going to make a request to my oncologist that the next lot of chemo he puts me on gives me only 1 sleep day recovery, lots of energy, and encourages weightloss. I’m sure I’m going to die of obesity instead.

 

Boredom makes me feel miserable. I try to go out as much as I can. I go to work approx. 3 days a week (fortunately for me, it’s my husbands business, I can work when I want to) I love the interaction with our customers, I forget that I’m sick when I’m busy, the only time I have anybody do anything for me is when I go in for my chemo, I take muscle relaxants with this chemo, it’s like truth serum. I forget what I’ve said when they wear off. My Mum says I yak on the way home, and she’ll ask me a few days later if I did what I said I was going to, and I ask her what the hell she’s talking about. Hey, I felt good at the time.

 

This is the fist time I have posted a comment in my life, it feels good to talk about what’s happened over the past couple of years. My family believe me when I say I’m going to conquer this disease. I suspect that they are bored with me talking about it, sometimes I think they envy my experience of a lifetime (mmm maybe not). When I found out, oddly I accepted my fate, and had to assure my best friends and family that I was cool with it and that it was just another challenge.

 

Please, please, be as positive as you can be about your condition. As crap as it makes you feel, I really believe the chemo helps. And I really believe your attitude helps too.

Hey, thanks for listening.

 

Trish from Brisbane Q Australia

 

6 Comments

Can chemotherapy cure metastatic liver cancer?

metastatic liver cancer cure

 

From all the metastatic liver cancer stories we gather, few of them are told by a cancer survivor.

 

Some that passed away did get chemotherapy, but this cancer treatment was only to:

 

 

But we get puzzled when reading Kistan2’s comment on Avastin for metastatic liver cancer where she says :

 

they tried another infusion of Avastin but
we all knew that this next infusion of Avastin
wouldn’t do anything to help my husband

 

What worries me is where Kistan2 says : we all knew that this next infusion of Avastin wouldn’t do anything.

 

3 worried questions come in mind…

 

 

Always ask your oncologist what can be expected and
how sure he is relying on his experience.

 

In simple words: in my experience I have a few friends that survived breast cancer after being treated with radiation, mastectomy and chemotherapy. So when I hear ‘breast cancer’ I have hope (knowing very well that treating breast cancer is a much more difficult and much longer road than surviving dengue fever or treating a cold).

 

When it comes to metastatic liver cancer, my experience so far is: not having encountered any secondary liver cancer survivor. If you have, please ask him or her to share with us his cancer story!

158 Comments

More metastatic liver cancer minds out of control

cancer mind control

We are getting lots of cancer stories reacties sharing how the mind of a metastatic liver cancer patient runs out of control as well as his body is. Read how we were not prepared for this and read Donna’s metastatic liver cancer story of her husband "seeing things".

 

Not prepared for the mind playing tricks on father

 

We were not warned by our doctors that father would see huge spiders crawling at the end of his bed… All our GP told us was that:

 

 

The latter was already not as easy as it sounds.

 

Even given pain medication was not straight forward: what worked today most likely wouldn’t work the next day, so we had to adjust to father’s pain every new day.

 

Being prepared for all this, we were not at all prepared that father’s brain would slowly but surely start playing tricks on him.

 

Metastatic liver cancer brain deterioration symptoms

 

The first father’s mind played tricks on him was when father blogged that his liver scan should be looked at as if you were looking from top to bottom.

But in reality you should look from bottom to top (thanks to one of our readers to point this out in where is the liver located). This was 1 and a half month after he was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.

 

Another 1 and a half months later it was all clear for everybody that father’s mind was deteriorating. He could start cheering people up by telling a joke but halfway he couldn’t remember the end of the joke anymore.

 

One day he was rushed to hospital because he got overly scared about seeing things that were not there and he was completely disoriented. The doctor in the hospital managed to "stabilize" (as they call it) father again and he could spend the rest of his weeks at home. But even in the hospital he didn’t recognize people who came to visit him…

 

Read Donna’s metastatic liver cancer story

 

Hi, I truly feel what you are feeling.

 

My husband was told he had metastatic liver just 3 weeks ago and it has been a nightmare ever since.

 

The 3 weeks seems like 1 long day without end.

 

He has lost SO much weight!

 

I agree with the post that said it is like watching a snowman melt away in the sun (read more at Metastatic Liver Cancer Snowman Story : Start, Middle, End).

 

There have already been times when nothing he says makes any sense and he is also at times, “seeing things” that are not there.

 

The Dr basically gave him morphine and sent us home.

 

He is in good spirits and has high hopes for a full recovery…..

 

So far everything I have read and researched gives me no hope of that.

 

Liver cancer is truly a monster that sneaks up on a person. He has good days as well as bad days. He has even gone to work on a few days!

 

We have a meeting with the Dr on Wednesday to discuss chemotherapy.

 

It will be his decision whether to go this route or not. From everything I have read, it is really hopeless and will only put him in misery & make him extremely ill, with no real prolonging of his life.

 

So he will have to decide longevity OR quality?

 

This is the worst thing we have ever had to deal with. Keep praying & hoping! I wish you & your family a lot of luck & send my love.

 

Liver cancer patients are truly in God’s hands.

 

Thanks for sharing Donna, all our hugs and prayers for you and your family.

Leave a Comment

Avastin for metastatic liver cancer

Avastin for metastatic liver cancer

What can Avastin do in the treatment of metastatic liver cancer? Reading the avastin.com website says that Avastin in combination with intravenous 5FU based chemotherapy is indicated for first- or second-line treatment of patients with metastatic carcinoma of the colon or rectum.

 

In other words: it’s added to the 5FU chemotherapy cocktail, 5FU that father’s oncologist wanted to give father to treat his metastatic liver cancer. But the oncologist advised father to consider not to undergo 5FU (see Fu like in F… you!) treatment because:

 

 

Father asked the most logical question:

 

can you guarantee me that 5Fu or Xeloda or any other chemotherapy will cure me?

 

The answer of the oncologist was :

 

NO

 

How does Avastin work?

 

Avastin (brandname of Bevacizumab) is an antibody that interferes with the formation of new blood vessels. In case of treating a tumor this is ideal, as without new blood vessels, the tumor won’t be able to grow as there is no extra blood supply.

 

Avastin side effects

 

The most logical side effect is that wounds could heal slower or not at all because Avastin doesn’t allow your body to make new blood vessels to the wound.

 

Another side effect are the formation of blood cloths. Again logical: if your blood is not allowed to flow where it wants to flew due to Avastin interfering with the formation of blood cells.

 

But in stead of being logical, you need to trust your doctor’s experience (and ask for a second opinion with another doctor). It seems that Avastin can cause Gastrointestinal (GI) perforation, haemorrhage or hemoptysis : a severe bleeding problem at the site of the tumor.

 

The most common Avastin side effects in patients receiving Avastin with chemotherapy are weakness, pain, abdominal pain, headache, hypertension, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, constipation, upper respiratory infection, nosebleeds, difficulty breathing, skin irritation, and a possible sign of kidney malfunction (proteinuria ).

 

But then again, without Avastin in your regular chemotherapy, you could have similar side effects.

 

Avastin is no miracle cure

 

What I love about Avastin is the theoretical idea that:

 

…if you could only feed the tumor with Avastin,
the tumor won’t be able to grow…

 

What I hate about Avastin is:

 

the theory is a far cry away from reality:
adding Avastin along with the patients’ normal chemotherapy treatments.

 

Avastin for metastatic liver cancer is merely an addition to your chemotherapy treatment and not an alternative cancer treatment.

5 Comments

Metastatic liver cancer mind games

Metastatic liver cancer affects mind

3 months after being diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer, father didn’t recognize his daughter in law visiting him… At days he had no clue what ‘dentures’ where doing in his mouth…

That are some of the "not too negative" tricks his mind started playing on him due to his liver not cleaning his blood properly… And none of the doctors had prepared us for this side effect…

 

When the liver stops functioning well, it affects the mind sooner or later. Father also became disoriented and had to take medication like Risperdal to calm him down at times when he was seeing things that we couldn’t see…

 

The medical term used here is encephalopathy which indicates any dysfunction of the brain.

 

In father’s case his short memory diminuished from day to day but old habits died much harder. Although not recognizing his own daughter in law, he did recognize an old childhood friend at the same day.

 

Read about Steve’s father kidney cancer

 

Steve commented on Liver Cancer Story from Sue.

Steve’s father in law has kidney cancer metastized to his liver. From time to time find his mind is playing tricks on him.

Read how his loved ones are giving a little back to a parent who has given so much to his children.

 

Reflect a few seconds when Steve’s father says:  

 

If I’d know it would take this long,
I would have done it differently.

 

Thanks for sharing your cancer story Steve, our hugs and prayers to you, your dad and your family.

 

Battling kidney cancer

 

My father in law has metastatic liver cancer. He is 86. He’s been battling kidney cancer for more than three years, but when the cancer reached the liver, we all knew the end was in sight.

 

Today, he is still alive, though he often indicates quite clearly he’s not completely happy with that. He told me once, “If I’d know it would take this long, I would have done it differently.” He’s always been a very robust person, in control, willing and able to help anyone, any time. Now, his is nearly bedridden, unable to stand on his own, relying on others to move him from his bed to his wheel chair.

 

He is confused, unhappy, and easily irritated. He is often disoriented and wonders often if anyone knows where he is. He once called the police to report himself missing… Despite the fact his wife is with him daily and his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren visit regularly.

 

He’s lost the ability to do even the simplest things and it is extremely aggravating to him. The remote control for the TV; the cordless telephone; these simple little everyday thins which he’s used on countless occasions befuddle him. He calls me sometimes to talk him through using the TV remote. I’ll tell him to push certain numbers to get to a particular channel and he’ll push the numbers on the telephone.

 

As the encephalopathy worsens, he worries more and more in his lucid moments that he is making a fool of himself. All we can do is assure him he is doing nothing that is a problem to any of us. That we love him, that we’re there to help, and that he is no burden to us, no matter how many times he calls to tell me he can’t reach anyone on the phone.

 

But we too wonder how much longer this will go on. How much longer will this wonderful man have to be witness to his own deterioration? We actually relish the day he will slip into a coma; when he won’t have to worry that he’s “wondering around” at night (despite the fact he can’t walk) making himself a nuisance. When he won’t have to worry anymore that he’s saying things to people he doesn’t mean. When he won’t be projecting his own symptoms on his wife so that he can try to help her.

 

It’s hard to watch someone die. It’s especially hard to watch them die a little at a time. But in many ways, we all cherish the time we have with him. We all feel good about the opportunity to give back something to this man who meant so much to all of us for so long and who was so willing to help us with any problems we faced. We simply wish it would be easier on him.

8 Comments

Where is the liver located

where is the liver located

Clear images to give you a clear answer on the question: where is the liver located. Your liver is partly protected by the rib cage. Your liver consists of two lobes: the right lobe is about six times the size of your left lobe.

 

Where is the liver in the body?

 

The scan from father’s metastatic liver cancer should be interpreted as follows:

 

where is your liver located

Where is your liver located ?

 

The above picture from father’s scan where father is lying on his back. Imagine you are standing at father’s feet looking up:

 

mri scanner

 

So in order to know where is the liver located in the human body you need to remember that in the MRI scans you are looking from below and up.

 

In father’s post of November 2006 where is my liver located, father confusingly described you should look at the scan from above. It was just in indication from what was to come: having a liver not cleaning up his blood properly, his brain would start to play tricks on him.

 

Another "up side down" example was when father one evening wanted to lower the window shutters. In stead started to pull at them.

 

When no shutters came down, father thought it was because he was loosing strength so he started to pull the shutters full force.

 

It took lots of persuasion and a few minutes of time before father realised he was pulling the shutters up in stead of letting them down…

 

If you would love to see more illustrations to find out where is the liver located, please leave a comment!

2 Comments

Metastatic liver cancer prognosis

metastatic liver cancer prognosis

Linda asks our past experience in order to give a metastatic liver cancer prognosis for her aunt of 80 years (commented on
Metastatic liver cancer is unfair).
Our answer:

The candle can burn all the way
when well taken care off and
without a sudden unexpected breeze.

 

In our past experience we were given the following prognosis:

 

 

3 months after father was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer, his health took a step to the worst and we had to rush him to hospital.

 

The hospital doctor on call said: "I will stabilize your father’s condition and hopefully he will be able to return in a few days".

 

Father returned home a few days later but "quality of life" was no longer than what it was before he went to hospital the last time.

 

Father died at home less than 5 months after he was diagnosed.

 

To summarize my experience: "your father is dying" was a clear message to reorganize my life in such a way I could spend the most time possible with my father in the days after he was diagnosed.

 

Just like you Linda, we didn’t do any follow up tests to see how father’s blood or liver was doing:

 

 

Father did say the last day of his life to mother: "if I needed to start all over again, I will do it again with you…". That night father passed away with a smile on his face…

 

Linda’s metastatic liver cancer story

 

My Aunt of 80 years was diagnosed with secondary colon cancer on her liver.

She had two tumors 6cm and 3cm.

We went and had one ablated (so we think) we have not scheduled any other follow up tests.

The other tumor is right by her gallbladder and the Dr. was hesitant because he was concerned about burning her gallbladder and causing other complications.

She has decided to not have any further treatment.

The Dr. found the tumors in March of 08.

She looks great and still drives.

She is choosing quality of life for the moment.

How long do you think she may have from past experience.

The one Dr. said 8 months. I read somewhere that there is a 30% chance that she could survive 5 years.

 

Thanks for sharing Linda, feel free to ask more. All our hugs and prayers for you and your family!

1 Comment

New metastatic liver cancer treatment: chocolate?

new cancer treatment

Eclairs covered with lots of chocolate was father’s new cancer treatment as in …a treat that brought a smile on father’s face!

 

Love is the best medicine!

 

Love doesn’t cure cancer and for sure chocolate is not a treatment for metastatic liver cancer. But love is the best foundation to give the much needed care a terminal cancer patient needs.

 

Parents love their children and devote lots and lots of their time and energy in raising their kids. The same effort will be needed when you are taking care of a loved one with cancer.

 

With kids, parents have a dream that they will end up like this or that… when talking about secondary liver cancer your dreams are on hold. The reality is that non of the metastatic liver cancer stories we gathered on our site talks about a cancer survivor.

 

Cure, Care or Chocolate?

 

There will be a moment you have to decide between:

 

 

You need to know that the longer you fight for a cure, most likely the more time the cancer patient spends in hospitals surrounded with doctors and nurses who don’t love them as much as you do!

 

Making the best out of a bad situation means going for "quality of life". Doctors use the term lightly. My brother’s first answer to what is quality of life?

 

father should travel to Norway…

 

…The next year my brother went on holiday to Norway. We never ever heard father talking about Norway in his entire life…

 

So what is quality of life? It’s different for each person!

 

You need to love and know the person
in order to know what he likes in his life and
you will have your answer to
what is quality of life.

 

For father, he loved to eat the above pastry: eclairs with lots of chocolate on top. Everybody knows that fat and chocolate are not good for the liver. But then you can choose:

 

 

When people smile, you know they are in their "quality of life" – zone.

 

A happy face was our guideline for giving father "quality of life". It’s in the small things of life that father enjoyed. It’s for sure not found between the 4 walls of the hospital.

 

We are still waiting for a new treatment for metastatic liver cancer. Father passed away in his sleep with a smile on his face…

1 Comment

Colonoscopy can’t always prevent metastatic liver cancer

colonoscopy

 

Laura’s mother (75) has cancer of the small intestine that spread to her liver. Her mom started having colonoscopy’s at the age of 50 and nothing showed up ever…

 

Unfortunately a colonoscopy test only looks into the rectum and colon through a long, flexible, narrow tube – the colonoscope. It doesn’t detect anything in the small intestine because it never looks there. (The small intestine starts where the colon or large intestine stops, see picture below)

 

intestines

 

So there you are : well informed, doing what you have learned to prevent cancer and yet again you end up with metastatic liver cancer?

 

Again modern medicine focuses way to little on cancer prevention. How many times have you seen Dr. Oz and Dr. Drew promoting colonoscopy, Dr. Drew even going so far to film his own colonoscopy for everybody to witness?

 

Now this is great for the colonoscopy industry, but useless for Laura’s mother nor for my father who also had done colonoscopy tests without anything bad showing up…

 

Laura’s cancer story

 

Laura told her mother’s cancer story at 2 responses to metastatic liver cancer.

 

My mother who is 75 and has always been the picture of health was diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine which has metastized to her liver.

She had a colonoscopy a few months ago (she began having them at age 50) but nothing showed up.

Her liver is double the normal size now and she is jaundiced.

This has hit our family like a ton of bricks!

The Dr. gave her 2 weeks to live, but maybe more with chemo.

She is doing the chemo for my Dad’s sake. They have been married for 53 years, and he can’t imagine life without her.

She is in great spirits and has a wonderful attitude.

She told me that she is sad for us, her family.

She had a blood transfusion and it gave her so much more energy for a day and a half and then she became very tired again.

We are taking one day at a time–or at least trying to-and cherishing our time with her.

 

Comparing father’s metastatic liver cancer with Laura’s mother

 

Similar facts

 

 

Differences

 

 

Please leave your hugs and prayers for Laura’s mother and family in a comment!

1 Comment

Metastatic liver cancer is unfair

unfair metastatic liver cancer

Why is metastatic liver cancer so unfair asks Lyndsey in a comment on Alan’s liver cancer story?

 

Unfortunately we have no answer to this question…

 

We also asked ourselves why lots of people get away with bad things and a hard working father who always tried to do the best for his family and friends has to end up with metastatic liver cancer.

 

It just doesn’t make any sense at all.

 

Oprah will answer you that God or the universe is trying to tell you something. But you just don’t understand it yet…

 

If you know what father went through the last few weeks of his life with secondary liver cancer, you really wonder why God or the universe hasn’t better ways to get their message through.

 

And why do we have to get this message and not big decision makers who could make a huge impact on cancer prevention and cancer treatments?

 

All our hugs and prayers go to Lyndsey, her family and her father who is diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer in February 2008, that is about 5 months ago…

 

Lyndsey’s metastatic liver cancer story

 

In Februari 2008 my dad was diagnosed with secondary liver cancer! He is only 56!

He used to be the life and soul of the party!

But since he was told about this rotten disease it is like he has given up on life!

I’m finding it very tough at the moment because I know deep down the survival rate is none!

I don’t think I could cope with losing him!

But reading the stories I realize what people went through! It makes me so sad and bitter about life! Why is it so unfair!

But we must stay positive for his sake! He means the world to me! So fingers crossed!

3 Comments

A cure for metastatic liver cancer

why no metastatic liver cancer cure

Why is there no cure for metastatic liver cancer? Why do governments spend more money to kill people than to cure people?

 

Where are all the metastatic liver cancer survivors? Please leave a comment if you know any!

 

I saw a repeated Oprah show yesterday promoting the movie Sex and the City. Seems that Cynthia Nixon has breast cancer but got cured. Good for Cynthia that she is cured, but:

 

I am really fed up with the clapping for people being cured of cancer. What’s there to clap for?

 

What about the people that have been taking care of a cancer loved one who didn’t survive? Why don’t they get a standing ovation? Why aren’t they even invited on TV?

 

It’s obvious that only cancer survivors can talk, but why not make an effort to invite the people who get devastated when cancer destroys not only their loved one but also part of their life, their believe and their way of life?

 

Cancer is a life changing experience, but not one you wish anybody to experience.

 

A new economy is needed

 

It’s simple: people do have a price and if you look at asbestos lawsuits, you see that human lives are all but priceless. And as long as lives aren’t priceless, people will continue to destroy our world and environment and if needed pay a few extra dollars in a lawsuit.

 

Our economy unfortunately is killing both us as the planet we live in. Global warming is here and the US has been reluctant to take measures. The best they can do now is pointing to other countries like India and China. Unfortunately, US is producing more carbon-dioxide and other harm to the environment, and they only have 200 million people to take care for.

 

Luckily there are people trying to make a change. I just saw the Esty banner on the right of this website talking about building a new economy and present a better choice.

 

Unfortunately, these incentives are few and will take ages to make an impact.

 

Meanwhile metastatic liver cancer prognosis keeps grim, metastatic liver cancer treatment are almost none and metastatic liver cancer survival rates are too low to mention.

 

And let’s face it: we have been trying to find a cure for metastatic liver cancer for ages now, and with all our sophisticated hospitals and research teams, we still haven’t found it.

 

So if you can’t find it, wouldn’t you start diverting the attention and start working on cancer prevention?

 

Sounds logical to me, but since it is not done on a large scale, we can only conclude that there are more important factors in the eyes of decision-makers than the quality of life of their citizens.

 

As long as life isn’t considered priceless, there won’t be a cure for metastatic liver cancer.

Leave a Comment

What hotdogs, pesticides and metastatic liver cancer have in common

Hotdogs contain preservatives, which in some cases is a cute word for poison. Pesticides is another word for pest killing poison and metastatic liver cancer will kill you for sure.

 

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund concluded that when it comes to colon cancer, processed meat is NOT safe to eat. In fact, according to researchers, just one 50-gram serving of bacon, sausage, deli meats or other processed meat daily increases our risk of colorectal cancer, on average, by 21 percent.

 

Money talks, metastatic liver cancer patient die

 

Unfortunately there is no big and strong organisation fighting for the rights of people passing away because of metastatic liver cancer.

Most people having metastatic liver cancer don’t live that long to organise anything to protect others anyway. And they do need the money to make their last few days on earth as comfortable as possible.

 

Hotdogs and pesticides however are backed up with huge organisations making lots of money

 

Recently an ad from a cancer prevention group "The Cancer Project" warns that processed meats (like hot dogs) can lead to an increased risk of cancer.

 

Amazingly the American Cancer Society refutes the study by saying that obesity and lack of exercise put people at a higher risk for colon cancer than processed meats.

 

Unfortunately they forget they are fighting for the same cause. They also forget about the big picture: colon cancer, being one of the most common reasons of metastatic liver cancer, has a strong correlation with our diet and lifestyle.

 

People eating organic food add zero poisonous pesticide residu’s in their bodies, therefore have a stronger body that’s more efficient in dealing with cancer cells.

 

People that don’t exercise have slower bowel movements and therefore more chance that cancers can grow inside the colon.

 

Again, the big picture is our lifestyle and our environment. Unfortunately we have been bombarded with the idea that food containing pesticide and herbicide residues are completely healthy. Also we have forgotten how important an healthy environment is in order to stay healthy.

 

So as soon as somebody goes after the hotdog industry, the meat industry will fight back big time, because they have the financial ways to do it.

 

It’s logical: you earn more money selling crap than a person that sells organic food, so you end up with residu money to market that your product is as healthy as any other… You even manage to say that vitamines in a pill are more healthy than vitamines in food.

 

Unfortunately this is wrong as people are dying much more from metastatic liver cancer than 50 years ago.

 

Just like the bald eagle was almost extinct due to the enormous use of DDT.

 

How many people need to die still of metastatic liver cancer to make a change?

Leave a Comment

Alan’s liver cancer story

Again another story about liver cancer that’s quite different from the survivor stories you tend to get spoon-fed through TV and media… Commented on Kaye’s Metastatic Liver Cancer Story

 

Hi,

My Dad also died from liver cancer.

 

When Kay said that they only had 9 days from diagnosis till Kim passed away, it was similar for us.

 

We had 2 weeks but my dad was fine in the sense that he was able to be up and about. His mental state was fine as well. Doctors said my dad had 3 months to live, but he just went into a sleep & didn’t really wake up..

The shock of how fast it happened was unreal, it was like a car crash…

My father Donald passed on the 16 July 2006.

He was only 52 & it’s still very hard to deal with it, like the last 2 years didn’t happen…

bye

Al

 

Thanks for sharing Alan.

 

It’s been 1.5 years now since my father passed away from metastatic liver cancer and like you, it is still very hard to deal with. Hard in the sense that I still haven’t figured out what the universe is trying to tell me by giving father metastatic liver cancer?

 

Although we had to cope with father’s mental and physical state getting worse each and every day for about 5 months (time between his metastatic liver cancer diagnosis and changing this life for a life without pain), we all had the time to give back some of the love we received from father.

 

I cannot even imagine how things would feel when the time had been as limited as in your cancer story or Kaye’s cancer story.

 

What I learned is that time is precious and priceless.

 

Give me a choice between 50 million US or a guarantee of a healthy life, and I will choose the latter in a split second.

 

Life is priceless and you only have 1 of it, just like you only have 1 father and mother.

 

Unfortunately we have way too much metastatic liver cancer patients.

3 Comments

Metastatic liver cancer end symptoms

metastatic liver cancer end symptomsYou can easily compare the metastatic liver cancer end symptoms to your beloved snowman melting away in front of your eyes…

It’s already bad enough that modern health care isn’t able to detect metastatic liver cancer symptoms early. Doctors don’t prepare you for the deterioration of the liver cancer patient either….

 

All the information we got from our GP:

 

 

Sounds easy, but reality is far different. And notice, the specialists said nothing about this, although one specialist said: it’s easy for us to say things between the 4 walls of a hospital, you guys will have to make it work outside now… So we were blessed to have a good and experienced GP.

 

Quality of life

 

Father has 3 to 6 months to live…

But each day of those, his health will be worse than the previous one. It’s difficult to talk about "quality of life" when our most important priority in life is health.

The pleasure of eating together is another joy in our family. Unfortunately the liver tumors are using up vital space in the belly region, so father only managed to eat small portions.

To make things worse (yes, it just doesn’t get any better anymore: that’s the reality of metastatic liver cancer): the tumor also uses up energy provided by the already smaller food intake. Loosing weight and strength are the direct consequences.

 

Pain has a function

 

Of course you don’t want to feel the pain caused by the liver pressing on your other organs.

But by suppressing that pain, you also suppress the normal pain reaction you will get when you feel constipated. In other words: you have no clue whether you are constipated, or you just haven’t been eating enough to go to the toilet…

There you are: being a non medical loved one having to make decisions you don’t have a clue about…

 

The brain starts playing tricks on the liver cancer patient

 

This was actually the worst of the worst. The liver is not cleaning the blood properly and from time to time messages in the brain don’t get through.

Sometimes father answered a question you asked him the day before. That’s good because you can still figure out the logic.

On other moments you couldn’t figure out the logic anymore. Luckily mom knew father the best and she managed much better to find logic in all what father was saying and doing.

But there was no logic when father started hitting a huge spider at the end of the bed that nobody else saw…

If you want to compare what is happening, then think about people that are in the dessert, deprived for water for a few days and starting to hallucinate.

 

The body becomes weaker

 

We had to start helping father physically as his strength was getting less and less. This is where mother ruptured the ligaments in her shoulder. We had some problems with our back, but compared to metastatic liver cancer, a little pain in the back is ridiculous actually.

 

Summarized

 

end symptoms metastatic liver cancer

 

The best way to describe the end symptoms of metastatic liver cancer is to imagine a snowman melting away in the sun…

2 Comments

Debbie’s mama has liver and bone cancer

13 liver cancer patients will have died when only 1 is still standing after 5 years. Think about this when you clap for a cancer survivor on TV: you are watching the exception to the rule.

Liver cancer survival rates are bottom low.

Worldwide 7 % of the people diagnosed with liver cancer will be alive 5 years later. This means if you have a room with 14 people diagnosed with liver cancer, only 1 of them will be alive in 5 years.

 

13 of these 14 people won’t stand a chance to be aired on TV at Oprah, Dr Oz, Dr Drew…

 

Please Oprah: stop saying "how smart" Dr. Oz is. Have a look at what Dr. Oz doesn’t know.

 

If you can only save 1 person out of 14 liver cancer patients,
then there is no reason to glorify the doctor’s knowledge…

 

We are happy that real people share real their cancer stories.

 

Reading these stories I hope people will realise that there is a bigger killer amongst us:
 

How can you clap for a liver cancer survivor when you know that his ‘13 fellow liver cancer patients’ have died in the mean time?

 

Clap for the real heroes:

 

 

Give your support and hugs to Debbie, who tells her liver cancer story:

 

Hello everyone.

Guess I am joining all of you with the story that my mother, Martha, mama to me has cancer of the liver and bone cancer, and etc.

We have been back and forth with this for almost 4 years and now she is going down hill every day.

Doctors really don’t know what they are doing any more.

Emotional roller coaster……

How do we except death of the people we love so dearly?

I will remember all of you.

 

Thanks Debbie, lots of hugs for you!

 

Please leave a comment, even if you don’t have any words to add, just add your name, hug, prayer or silence.

Leave a Comment

How do you prevent liver cancer

how do you prevent liver cancer

Since there is no miracle liver cancer treatment, you better read our answers about how do your prevent liver cancer.

Liver cancer is the most common cancer in the world. It is also the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. You might enjoy the stories of cancer survivors, but reality is bitter. The prognosis for HCC is never good with a liver cancer survival rate of less than a year.

It may be impossible to prevent metastatic liver cancer, but there are possibilities of reducing the risks of getting primary liver cancer… or so says the medical world:

 

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and
getting the Hepatitis B vaccine
is the most effective way of preventing liver cancer

 

There are 2 parties involved in maintaining a healthy lifestyle:

 

  1. your personal efforts in what you eat and how you live
  2. the environment where you live in

 

We are living on an ever faster polluted earth: we are very limited in our efforts to live a healthy lifestyle on a polluted planet.

 

Primary and secondary liver cancer: 90-10

 

When people talk of prevention, they talk about primary cancer prevention.

Primary liver cancer is defined as cancer that begins in liver cells – called hepatocytes-. Primary liver cancer is called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which accounts for 90 per cent of liver cancer cases.

Secondary liver cancer or metastatic liver cancer is the result of the mutation of the cells from another type of cancer which spreads to the liver. So prevention here boils down to preventing the other cancer to occur.

 

Foods that prevent cancer

 

First and foremost our body lives on:

 

  1. food and
  2. fresh air.

 

So you better make sure you get the best of both.

 

  1. Again, when it comes to fresh air, you are limited to the environment you live in. If you have the means: do move to a place where the air is more healthy than where you live now.
  2. When it comes to food: go for organic grow fruits, organic vegetable and organic meat. You don’t want to fill your body with pesticide and herbicide residues: they do accumulate in fat. Ever wondered why obese people are more likely to get cancer? This is one of the reasons: their body just accumulates cancerous poisons…

 

Reducing the risks to prevent liver cancer

 

The keywords here are: reducing the risks, so that’s only a small part or reducing liver cancer… Better small than nothing but make sure you keep the whole picture in mind:

 

 

HCC is caused by several factors which include:

 

 

Keywords here are : "which include". Some people look perfectly healthy and live a healthy lifestyle and still get liver cancer.

 

When you live in Malaysia: in 2003 from the 530 cases of HCC reported, 90% was caused by hepatitis B. So preventing people from getting hepatitis B will get rid of 90% of the primary liver cancers. Now that’s a good thing (if there is a guarantee like my father used to ask his oncologist after being diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer… unfortunately, there are no guarantees…).

 

It’s quite logical when 90% of the liver cancers are caused by hepatitis B, a simple solution to prevent liver cancer is getting a vaccination from hepatitis B. The vaccination will provide protection from the infectious disease and at the same time protect your liver from HCC.

 

Who is selling hepatitis B vaccins?

 

Did you notice we suddenly are not talking about living a healthy lifestyle on a healthy planet suddenly?

 

In stead we are talking about buying a vaccin from the medical industry. Similar chemical industries are also producing pesticides and herbicides with cancerous effects…

 

But if that’s the world we live in, we better take what’s available to be protected as much as possible. According to the World Health Organisation, hepatitis B vaccine has an outstanding record of safety and effectiveness. The vaccine is 95% cent effective in preventing children and adults from developing chronic infection, if and only if they have not yet been already infected.

 

A cure for liver cancer?

 

If there was a cure for cancer, you would have known it already by now and you won’t be reading it hidden far away in our metastatic liver cancer site.

 

Meanwhile Bayer Schering Pharma has recently launched Sorafenib as the oral targeted therapy for the treatment of liver cancer. Based on clinical trials, it is found that Sorafenib improves patient’s survival rate by 44 per cent.

 

This reminds me on father’s GP saying:

Try Xeloda: you could do yourself and your family a great pleasure.

 

The oncologist was more blunt:

It’s not because Xeloda is taken orally, that it’s as easy and effective as taking Aspirine. Xeloda is chemotherapy with all the terrible side-effects.

 

For now: as long as there isn’t a real cure for liver cancer, you better live as best as you can doing all things known about how do you prevent liver cancer.

Leave a Comment

Liver Cancer

Another Liver Cancer story we received in our call for "Do
you have a liver cancer story". Thanks Kaye for sharing Kim’s liver cancer story. All our love and hugs. Please leave a comment and show Kaye your support!

For those new in liver cancer, Kaye’s story just like father’s metastatic liver cancer story tells you:

For those that have a loved one with cancer in palliative care

Liver cancer prognosis

Some of you might say: I have heard liver cancer stories where the cancer patient still lives on for 2 years after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

This is true, but most likely because the liver cancer was diagnosed in its very early stage.

In Kim’s story below they did notice "red spots" 18 months ago…

Symptoms of liver cancer

In Kim’s story we read some extra symptoms we never noticed with father’s metastatic liver cancer… We also learned from mother that father once told her "he had something on his mind he couldn’t tell her…".

Both:

can let your life turn into another direction…

BUT:

why is there no talk about cancer prevention???

We are still looking forward for any politician who puts cancer prevention on the agenda…
Or in other words: who puts a healthy lifestyle on top of the agenda…

Better be safe than sorry is extremely true when it comes to cancer…

Kim’s liver cancer story

My husband, aged 49, died of liver cancer on the 5 March 2008.

He went for a employment medical in mid February2008 and the doctor noticed some red spots on his upper body. (other doctors had ignored this earlier) These had been around for about 18 months and we had put them down to burst blood capillaries that his dad has too.

The doctor felt his liver and said it was enlarged and referred him for an ultrasound & blood test

The results we received on the week preceding the 18th Feb were good news in that the diagnosis was benign growths and he had Hep C. (My husband was an ambulance office early in his career & this may have been the point of infection)

His concern was for me however & I tested negative for Hep C on the 19th and the doctor referred my husband to a clinic to treat his Hep C.

At the referred clinic appointment on the 21 Feb the doctor said my husband needed urgent blood test and cT scan. The bloods were taken that afternoon and the CT scan was performed the next day on the 22nd Feb.

My husband went into the scan appearing and feeling well and the moment he came out he complained of a sore shoulder which he thought was from laying in the machine with his arms above his head.

By that night he was in extreme pain and by the 23 Feb afternoon I took him to the local hospital emergency to get some relief.

The pain did not subside and on the 24 Feb he started to hiccup and did not stop. We again went to the local hospital emergency as the hiccups were interfering with his breathing and he was becoming very exhausted.

More pain relief coupled with valium were prescribed to relax his diaphragm. My husband was not to happy to be drugged so much and I was becoming increasingly concerned about him.

On the 25th February (Monday morning) I rang the clinic and pleaded with them to see my husband as I KNEW there was something really wrong and his face was very sick looking.

We were advised to come through the clinic’s hospital emergency and after waiting a number of hours (while my husband continued to hiccup) a registrar from the clinic came to see him. She said that the hiccup and shoulder pain were part and parcel of the “advanced aggressive liver cancer” that my husband had.

We were flabbergasted/stunned/shocked/crying and said that this was the first we had heard of CANCER . The registrar explained that there was no available treatment and requested that we keep the appointment we were meant to get the ct results at for the following Thursday (28th February) to discuss palliative care.

We returned home and Kim and I decided not to tell anyone in the near future to let ourselves digest the prospects.

That night I googled liver cancer + hiccups and some site referred to this symptom as the ‘final stages’. I shut the computer down and didn’t tell my husband this.

In the meantime the shoulder pain and the hiccups continued into the 27th and by lunchtime the drugs prescribed over the weekend by the emergency doctors at our visits rendered my husband bombed out and he stopped breathing.

I called his GP in a mad panic and shook him to life and called an ambulance.

I called all our kids and my husbands family. we became inundated with visitors.

The doctors asked if my husband wanted to stay in hospital and all we wanted to do was get home which we did.

We went along to the scheduled Thursday appointment at the clinic and the doctor told us my husband had about 2 months to live. We cried all the way home in the car.

Thursday night and the pain increased and I got on the phone to palliative services in desperation on the 29th and with the help of the clinic urging them to come they visited us at home that day.

The nurse took one look at my husband …organised better meds for pain relief and told us she thought he had a week or 2 left at best.

A morphine pump was fitted to Kim on Saturday the 1st March.

He was given steroids which lifted him on the 2nd and 3rd.

On the evening of the 4th after much love amongst us all and the kids we went to bed and he started to die before my eyes.

He died on the 5th at around 10.45 in the morning.

I am shocked and still in disbelief at the rapid decline and death of my beautiful soulmate.

I believe the contrast that my husband drank for the CT scan blew his cancer and symptoms up and hastened his death. Only consolation is that this may have shortened the time he was in pain.

On reflection symptoms of lethargy were around about 18 months beforehand that we put down to his dislike of his job ( which he changed and worked hard at his new job)

He also went thru bout of itching about 18 months prior to his death.

The palliative care nurses came to our home like angels in the night and without them my husband and I would not have been afforded the dignity and our wish for him to remain with us till the end.

Do you have a liver cancer story? Leave a comment and share your cancer story with us: it’s a relief to know that other people have lived the same ordeal and that don’t have any judgments about the things you did and didn’t do…

3 Comments

Primary liver cancer

liver cancer

1997: Singer Lawrence Payton of the Four Tops died of primary liver cancer in Detroit. He was only 59.

Read our clear information about treatments, symptoms, prognosis, primary and secondary liver cancer.

Leave a Comment

Liver Cancer Glossary

Find all cancer words clearly explained here. We know: it drives you mad all these terms: why can’t doctors speak propper English when you have liver cancer?

Medical Liver Cancer Glossary

Use our alphabetical glossary or find the most used cancer terms further below.


 


A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M


N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Most common terms used when a person has liver cancer:

 

Leave a comment:

 

 

Please leave a comment to make this liver cancer glossary as clear as possible.

Leave a Comment

Please pray for Kathy’s liver metastasis

Kathy was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and metastatic liver cancer. Her sister Phyllis wrote the following comment on Cancer stages: cancer story from Gina Hage

 

My sister was just diagnosed with lung cancer (never smoked) brain,bone and liver metastasis and in her glands.

She did not have any symptoms, only occasional headaches which she took OTC meds for.

She woke up on Saturday morning 2 weeks ago in severe pain all over, went to ER and the rest is history.

She is having radiation treatments to the brain and back to help alleviate pain. Please pray for her (Kathy).

 

Kathy is in our prayers Phyllis. And you are right: you don’t need to smoke in order to get lung cancer. Cancer just lures everywhere.

 

The brother of my father who died with metastatic liver cancer once told me: "we all have cancer, some just have it sooner than others…"

I could more agree though with one of the doctors saying: the healthier and stronger you are, the more chance you have never to face cancer. Here I need to add that we are poisoning our environment and planet, so it’s getting really difficult to live a healthy life…

 

Phyllis says: "the rest is history"… It’s not clear to me what she really means. Fact is that 16 months after father’s death, things are a far cry away from being history. Life becomes very different when a good person with a good lifestyle (like you said never smoked) suddenly has cancer "for no apparent reason".

If they can get it, we all can get it, but we cannot jump of our planet in search for a more healthy planet to live in…

 

If you have anything to add about metastatic liver cancer, a cancer story, a prayer or a hug, please leave a comment!

1 Comment

Metastatic liver cancer

Another metastatic liver cancer story: from Idana, posted 3 months ago on Pammy’s Liver cancer story : please give your hugs!

Idana’s metastatic liver cancer story

I’m reading this…..

My dad just got diagnosed with metastasic liver cancer, and he is feeling terrible, so do we.

We will see the oncologist in two days for the first time, doubts and fear is not nice.

He has two base ball sized masses on liver, some smaller ones on lungs and bones.

Two months ago he seemed very good and now he is pale and skinny, he seems very week, and desperate about pain, taking like 60 mg of morphine twice a day…

I was making some research when I found you…. I’m so sorry some of us have to go through this…. it is very painful for us to see a beloved one go through such pain….

Let’s all pray for each other and squeeze the best out of this awful experience, if we need to learn something from this, let’s learn it with love and patience, let’s be strong for them and give them the best time ever!!!

God bless you. soooo much!!!! Here goes my hug!!!!

Metastatic liver cancer answer

There is nothing much we can add to this metastatic liver cancer story.

Apart from the amount of masses in the liver and not having the knowledge where father’s primary cancer was…

It is like Idana says: very painful for the liver cancer patient (when you are on morphine already, we know the pain is humongous). Also very painful for the loved ones seeing their loved one going through such pain… "No pain" was one of our "quality of life" ideas, easier said than done…

Lot’s of quarreling also between us in this difficult period yet we made sure that our quarrels had a positive, constructive outcome. Emotions do run high when there is a person you want to help but there is no cure available…

But Idana summarizes any metastatic liver cancer story when she says: let’s be strong for them and give them the best time ever.

4 Comments

Undifferentiated adenocarcinoma metastatic liver cancer unknown primary

As far as I remember, "undifferentiated adenocarcinoma metastatic liver cancer unknown primary" was father’s diagnosis.

I only got alarmed after the 5th word when it said:

 

cancer.

 

When I then saw father’s liver looking like a raisin bread over-generously filled with raisons…

 

Unfortunately in father’s case, these raisins were malignant tumors, so surgery nor any other kind of more advance tumor treatments became an option.

Then the doctors were fast enough to explain that metastatic was another term for mentioning that there was a second cancer somewhere in father’s body that caused his liver cancer. And if a miracle could treat the cancers inside father’s liver, we still needed to cure the primary cancer.

 

16 months after father passed away from metastatic liver cancer…

 

16 months have passed by now, and "cancer" is still part of my thinking process each and every day. I recently thought the universe was trying to tell me to gather more cancer stories, so I started a few days ago the following blogs about:

 

 

But still my mind kept on twisting and turning until today I read about metastatic stomach cancer:

 

"a stomach cancer that spreads to the liver, will still look like a stomach cancer."

 

Now that sounds as logical as it comes, doesn’t it?

 

That’s were I remember telling my father that the oncologist tried to explain him why they were looking for the type of cancer father was having.

So I told father: imagine your cancer is a meatball, then they are trying to find out whether it’s a pork meatball or a chicken meatball… For all the info we were overwhelmed with, only now I get the message: if they would have know what kind of cancer father had in his liver, then they would have known where his primary cancer was…

 

In other words: in stead of unknown primary, they would have been able to be more precise.

 

And that explains why they were calling the cancer "Undifferentiated". If they would have called it "dunno where it comes from", they could have saved me 16 months of trying to put the puzzle back together…

 

I can hear you saying: but they told you it was an unknown primary!

Agreed, but then they should have said :

 

 

Keep it short and simple as life becomes way too difficult already the first time you hear the word cancer!

 

And no: I don’t need a "better next time" : once is enough and actually once too many if most likely cancer is just a consequence of living in a polluted world…

Leave a Comment

Sandy & Mandy
Angiosarcoma of the liver & Metastatic Liver Cancer

Today we thank Mandy and Sandy for sharing their liver cancer stories:

Every cancer story is different: but sometimes you learn more form people who already went the cancer path than trying to figure out what the doctors are saying.

Sandy on Primary and secondary liver cancer treatments

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 and 4 secondary cancers.

2 Primary cancers:

4 Secondary cancers:

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.

Our deepest condolences Sandy.

 

For all reading this:

 

cancer is not only a medical story,
it’s much more a human story.

 

The medical part

We totally agree with Sandy: always get a second opinion. In our case that were about 5:

  1. father’s GP
  2. my brother’s GP
  3. my other brother’s wife: she is a neuro-specialist and in the early
    years of her medical career she has dealt with lots of cancer patients
  4. the oncologist, liver specialist and colon specialist of the same hospital
  5. the oncologist of the hospital in the region that’s most advanced
    in dealing with liver cancer
  6. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are forgetting a few doctors…

As you can see: the medical part was well covered. But the medical story ends from the moment a doctor says: this cancer we cannot cure.

Suddenly you become a "palliative case"…

 

The human part

Father never showed the positive attitude Sandy’s father had….

 

Father knew he was in for his last ride
driving a car that would fell apart each day a bit more…

 

Then you find out that unlike the 101 doctors available in the medical part, there are hardly any people available for the palliative part…

 

 

And one year later like Sandy writes above: you still feel that things could have been done differently…

 

Make sure you do what all that’s in your power once you or your loved one is diagnosed with cancer because maybe it’s the last ride you will be riding together…

 

Mandy comments on: Angiosarcoma of the liver

Hi Terese and Stephanie,

I am so sorry to hear about your husband and son.

My friend Robynn is also battling angiosarcoma of the liver.

I have read a few postings about gemzar/taxotere being very effective and today that turned out to be the case for us, too!

My friend just received results from her tests that the tumors have shrunk with the gem/tax (which was not the case with the first chemo).

My prayers are with your family, I hope your husband and son find their success story soon. It is so very tough to watch our loved ones suffer…

Unfortunately "trying out" a chemotherapy is not as easy as trying on new pairs of shoes…

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best…

Leave a Comment

Kaye’s Metastatic Liver Cancer Story

Kaye shares here metastatic liver cancer story below commenting on Kristen’s cancer story.

Please share your cancer stories, as they will help others:

Thanks for sharing Kaye!

Kaye’s Cancer Story

I feel so much for what you and your family are going through Kristen.


I went through the diagnosis and dying period of my husband Kim in a state of shock and the period where he withdrew was so hard as we were like one in life.


I reckon if a cancer can enter your families’ life as unforeseen and uninvited as it has then there is every possibility that a miracle can as well.


It just wasn’t the case for my Kim and he left us soooo quickly.


Kim was not afforded chemo embolisation as the doctors decided that the cancer was too advanced and the treatment may hasten his death. He died within 9 days of diagnosis and had been well up until he had a cat scan. The doctor rang to give me that news about no embo about 2 hours after he had passed away.


We spent a lot of time stealing kisses whenever we could.


All we had during his last days was pain management which he was thankful for however he was disappointed at the effect it had on him and clear thinking loss.


Our 6 kids are aged 14 to 25 and each day presents some new occasion that I know Kim should be here for. I am grappling with the fact that he is not here and we are all trying to make the best of it. It is sooo hard.


As to alternative treatments …someone said to me that they had a relative with a stage iv diagnosis of liver cancer who took aloe vera and is still alive 3 years later.

3 Comments

Bowel cancer and metastatic liver cancer

This metastatic liver cancer story comes from Lyndsey and was commented on our 2 other metastatic liver cancer stories from 3 weeks ago :-(

My Dad has Bowel cancer and secondary Liver Cancer which is not curable!

He is only 55 years old and I am absolutely devastated.

He must get his CT and MRI Scan at the end of this week.

It is so draining for all of us waiting on results!

I am trying to be positive for him but I’m finding it very hard just thinking of him dying!

It makes me so sad!

Metastatic liver cancer

Dear Lyndsey,

As by now you most likely know the results from the CT and MRI scan. You should also have had the talk with the oncologist.

I was quite surprised to read when you say: "Bowel cancer and secondary Liver Cancer which is not curable". If this is what your doctor says, then listen to your doctor…

There is always a small chance that when the primary bowel cancer gets removed, the secondary cancer could be treated as well being your father only 55, which means much stronger to face the ordeal of chemotherapy or surgery compared with my hubby’s father who was 75 when diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.

My own dad had a cancerous colon tumor removed and his cancer is spreading but didn’t settle yet in one of his organs. Being 85 years old, doctors say he could die rather from old age than from a secondary cancer because the older one gets, the slower the cancer cells reproduce.

In your father’s case: the younger you are, the better you can deal with chemotherapy and surgery or other ways to remove or treat cancer like hepatocellular chemoembolization.

Just prepare yourself for the draining that is still to come when you need to take care of your father at a moment he needs help. Before that try to focus on life and the things you used to enjoy together. Prepare yourself now with organising as many people as possible to help you out in moments where your energy need to focus on helping your father.

Old habits sometimes are the ones that bring more joy than "looking for the quality of life in a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica"…

A big hug for you Lyndsey and your family. Do leave a comment if you have more questions or if you feel like sharing.

1 Comment

Metastatic Cancer from lung to liver life expectancy

metastatic cancer from lung to liver life expectancyMom was asked this week what the metastatic cancer from lung to liver life expectancy was. Which made mom crying rather than answering the question.

You need to know that mom being above 75 meets lots of elderly people when going to church, as the older generation sticks to their core habits.

Now each mass is dedicated to somebody, and these last 2 weeks that was for father who died of metastatic liver cancer, his brother in law who died from kidney cancer and mom’s parents.

Thinking back of what happened with her father having a "belly surgery" at his last days in hospital, we tend to believe he was suffering from colon cancer…

So in a moment like this being asked what the life expectancy is of yet another secondary cancer patient made mom cry for what had happened and the pain her friend was facing…

You can read more about liver cancer survival rate but you should get a clue with listening to your doctors as well. From the moment father was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer, he lived on for another 5 months.

Those are father’s numbers, you need to know that those 5 months are far from a normal 5 months of any healthy person. Quality of life becomes difficult to measure and you need to cherish the moments that mind and body are doing as fine as can be.

Lung cancer life expectancy

When I was young, my old neighbour died of lung cancer. From the moment he threw away his package of cigarettes suddenly (he never told he had lung cancer but that day he came back from the doctor…) and the day I went to see him in hospital were he said he did have lung cancer, 3 to 4 months went by. From the day I saw him in the hospital to his funeral was less than 2 weeks.

Please read the cancer story from a dad (see picture above right) who got lung cancer at 80 and a metastatic cancer from the lung to liver was diagnosed 2 years later. His daughter writes 8 months later that in the last 3 months amongst others she lost her dad.

Just type in "cancer" in the search of her blog and read the posts: they are few and very emotional to the point of letting you understand what "quality of life" means.

Cancer stories conclusion

Father’s metastatic liver cancer nor the metastatic cancer from the lung to liver from "the dad in the above cancer story" had been treated with chemotherapy (although "the dad" had palliative chemotherapy
for his lung cancer with huge success for the tumor in his lung).

Both lived less than half a year after diagnosis but it took 2 years before the metastatic lung cancer to liver had spread in "the dad"s cancer story. Since father’s primary cancer was never found, we have no idea how long it took for that cancer to spread to his liver.

As always, ask your doctor what is the metastatic cancer from lung to liver life expectancy in your particular case, as each case is different.

Leave a Comment

2 responses to metastatic liver cancer

Sandra and Glen left a comment on our April Metastatic Liver Cancer post, which we will add below in italics and our feedback in
normal script.

Glen’s Liver Cancer story

Thank you for sharing your story. My mom, aged 71, has been diagnosed as having HHC (Hepatocellular Carcinoma) in April 08. Her MRI indicated multiple Metastasis in her liver (innumerable large and small tumors).

Sounds like father’s diagnosis: lots of words we heard for the first time and when we saw the picture of his liver it became all clear to us: innumerable small tumors scattered in his liver…

Her blood tests indicated elevated Alpha Fetoprotein, and her history of chronic Hepatitis added to the diagnosis of liver tumor.

The liver tumor involves both lobes (which makes it not curable by resection, according to her doctor). She is in pain and takes Hydromorphone.

Father also was in pain due to the expanded liver pushing against all other organs. We tried to keep the pain under control with medicine starting with paracetamol and ending with morphine patches

Doctor said her age and condition doesn’t make her a good liver transplant or liver surgery candidate.

If a liver transplant would have been an option with a certain degree of success, father would have taken that, but he even didn’t have that option because his liver cancer was secondary.

We are looking for all answers and hope to give it our best shot!

If you still have answers Glen, please let us know. For medical answers make sure you get a second opinion and contact hospitals that are specialised in the cancer you describe.

Please update us how it is going.

Sandra’s Liver Cancer story

Today my father was found to have a 12 cm liver mass.

Tomorrow he gets a PET and Wednesday a biopsy.

PET and biopsy as you know being in the field of medicine is standard procedure. Father also had an MRI like Glen’s mom. Hopefully the biopsy gives an answer about what kind of cancer your father has. With our father the biopsy wasn’t any helpful for finding a cure. Yet each case is different and since today is Wednesday, you will get more answers.

Being in the field of medicine I want to see that everything possible is done to save him.
Not knowing all the answers to what he has and how they’ll treat it is exhausting. I can’t lose him yet.

Since you are in the field of medicine and looking at the procedures mentioned above, I am sure you know which questions to ask medically. My sister in law is a specialist herself, and me not being a doctor at all, we did have some clashes… So you will be spared from those useless extra energy consuming fights.

Exhausting is what the future will bring as well, so please update us how it is going.

Please leave a comment to give Glen and Sandra your hugs or to share your knowledge and experience with metastatic liver cancer!

8 Comments

Mangosteen against metastatic liver cancer?

We got a comment from Nancy, explaining the benefits of magosteen.

Nancy’s liver cancer story

My grandmother died of liver cancer in 1990 -no drinking, no hepatitis 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.

Being aware that there are food and fruits out there having anti cancerous properties is a first step to take in preventing yourself from getting cancer.

But that should be one start in leading a more healthy life. Drinking a bottle of mangosteen won’t change that you are breathing polluted air or eating other food with pesticides.

So if you go for mangosteen, then go for an entire organic diet and include lots and lots of tomatoes (organic ketchup or puree is even 100 times better). Also eat avocado’s: although not that delicious on their own, combined with a tomato, pepper, salt, cumin and a pinch of garlic it makes a delicious guacamole which in my case replaces mayonnaise on fresh salads.

Live healthy because
your body is your best asset
when it comes to killing cancer cells.

I am sure there are plants out there in the rainforest that are even better than mangosteen when it comes to cancer prevention and maybe even cancer treatment. Unfortunately the human race is only interested in the wood the trees can produce, and destroying in their path plants that could carry the treatment for metastatic liver cancer.

Leave a Comment

Bone cancer early symptoms

bone cancer early symptoms

Who else knows your environment is the primary cause of cancer?

Reading Barbara’s cancer story about her father having bone cancer and liver cancer at the same time, I googled to find bone cancer early symptoms. Because when you detect cancer at an early stage, chances of having a successful treatment do exist.

Sadly, primary bone cancer is relatively uncommon in comparison with secondary or metastatic bone cancer. And just like father’s metastatic liver cancer had an unknown primary, it seems that in a lot of cases the primary cancer is not yet recognized at the time when the early metastatic cancer in the bone becomes
painful and people go see their doctor.

Primary bone cancer

Cancer that begins is the bone is called a primary bone cancer. But when you or your loved one has cancer, you will hear a lot of terms and it feels that "everybody has his own idea what kind of cancer you are dealing with".

With primary bone cancer, the word sarcoma will often be heard. Sarcoma is a malignant tumor (which is another way of saying a cancerous tumor or bad tumor) arising in the bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue or muscle.

Most people will now criticize my idea that we have cancer due to living in an unhealthy environment, breathing in unhealthy air and eating food filled with pesticide residues. Why criticize? Because children and young people are more likely to have bone cancer than adults.

So my theory that an accumulation of bad residues over the years will cause cancer in older people holds, but how does it explain cancer in younger people?

For this you have to go back to the best pesticide ever DDT: it killed everything and was "oh so practical". What DDT also did was killing the embryo in the eggs of bald eagles after the Second World War:

bone cancer early symptoms

…Along with the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the US ban on DDT is cited by scientists as a major factor in the comeback of the bald eagle in the contiguous US…

So as long as adults have to bear living in a sick environment,
adults will bear sick children.

cancer starts before birth

…as long as adults have to bear living in a sick environment,
adults will bear sick children…

Barbara’s liver cancer story

Barbara left her cancer story in a comment at love your parents you only have 1 pair of them.

I am so sorry for your loss.

I just learned last night that I am facing the same with my father. His cancer spread to his bones and his liver.

I am trying to learn what he will face in this last year or so of his life and none of it looks good.

I know this will be the most difficult thing I have ever faced, but I pray that I can stay strong for him and my mother.

They just celebrated their 54th anniversary and have had many honeymoons.

He says he is okay with the end of his life, but I don’t think I am.

Oh well, I guess I don’t have any choice in this.

Metastatic liver cancer story

Our father seemed to be a bit younger than Barbara’s father when he got diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.

Father kept a stiff upper lip saying that he did live a good life, but the tears in his eyes didn’t really say the same.

You do need to be strong for your mother, because she will be the one loosing her partner for more than 54 years. Loosing a father is bad, but cannot be compared with loosing a partner of 54 years, so try to keep that in perspective.

Mom could really become angry to people coming with a story like: oh, when my husband had a terrible flu I also thought he was going to die and felt so afraid blablabla…

Of course you feel afraid, but with a flu you have hope for a better outcome, with terminal cancer you have no other options…

If you have more news about bone cancer early symptoms, or you have a cancer story to share: please leave a comment here!

Leave a Comment

Hepatocellular Chemoembolization

hepatocellular chemoembolization

When Kistan2 asked in her Liver Cancer story about alternative liver cancer treatments, we immediately had to think about hepatocellular chemoembolization.

Immediately, because we went through the same quest when father was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer. We searched the Internet for any cure, we found a few "promising treatments", but :

What is Hepatocellular Chemoembolization?

Chemoembolization is an innovative treatment for cancers of the liver doing 2 things at the same time:

  1. block the tumors’ blood supply and at the same time
  2. deposit a concentrated form of chemotherapy at the site of the cancer.

A catheter (a thin flexible, spaghetti sized tube) is placed through a tiny hole in the skin and directed through the pathways of the body’s arteries straight into the portion of the liver where the cancer is located.

Chemotherapy and particles which block the blood supply are then infused through this catheter.

Advantages of hepatocellular chemoembolization

Fist and foremost: it is a chemotherapy, so it’s not a guaranteed cure.

It is also used to reduce the size of the tumor to decrease the pain due to the growing liver pushing against the other organs.

The main advantage is that the chemotherapy doesn’t go into the entire bloodstream, so a higher dose can be used without the patient suffering from terrible side-effects if this dose was given with a normal chemo-therapy.

How does that work exactly you say? Well: the liver gets his blood:

Tumors in the liver typically get most of their blood supply from the hepatic artery. So:

In father’s metastatic liver cancer case unfortunately: his liver didn’t have 1 big tumor, but looked like a raisin bread filled with little tumors. Trying hepatocellular chemoembolization would have been a daunting task…

2 Comments

Introduction to alternative cancer treatments

Introduction to alternative cancer treatmentsThis post is an introduction to alternative cancer treatments, mainly a repeat from Kistan2’s question which we will print out below as it is part of her liver cancer story. Many hugs to you Kistan2 and thanks for sharing.

Our next post is about an alternative that sounds good in the sense of giving a person suffering from liver cancer a better quality of life. Yes, I am very prudent using the term : "alternative cancer treatments" as I will keep on saying that:

the only way to eradicate cancer is to prevent it!

This is a political choice and as you have noticed, it isn’t in any of the 3 remaining candidates program for the US presidential elections :-(

Why a political choice? Because they can implement policies in order to :

Not healthy according to "their standards", but healthy to eradicate cancer big time.

All we can do at this point is try to eat as much healthy organic food as possible, reduce on red meat and increase on doing exercises.

Liver Cancer Story from Kistan2

My 43 yr. old husband was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma early February of this year.

[ hepatocellular carcinoma is a type of liver cell cancer: a malignant growth made up of liver epithelial cells (cells forming the covering of most internal and external surfaces of the body and its organs) that tend to infiltrate the surrounding tissues and give rise to metastases ]

The oncologist that we consulted with all concluded that his mass was to large to operate on and it was too dangerous for the other recommended treatments.

Our only option was the liver cancer drug – Nexavar which he began on Feb. 12th.

Since then his oncologist has also combined the treatment with an infusion of Avastin (which is not approved by Blue Cross Blue Shield).

Since the infusion I have watched my husband go downhill with extreme high blood pressure which leaves him weak and fatigued most of the time. He barely leaves his bedroom and when he does it’s only to eat.

To me, he is getting more jaundiced which is not a good sign.

We have two young children (3 & 12) – I feel saddest when I think of the kids without their father around.

This disease has turned our whole world upside down – I am praying for a miracle but from what I’ve read about this disease, it just doesn’t look good.

Everyday I feel like he is drifting further and further away from us and I live in a constant state of sadness and loss (even though he is still with us).

I’m always on the Internet looking for alternative treatments for his cancer. Has anyone ever tried alternative medicine and have gotten good results from it?

Metastatic liver cancer addings…

Please do leave a comment:

We also listed a small introduction to alternative cancer treatments at our liver cancer survival rate page.

4 Comments

Liver cancer in the family

In the liver cancer story from Jessica it is not clear whether she talks about a primary cancer or a metastatic liver cancer. But the outcome is clear: too many people die from cancer…

Notice how Jessica prays for a cure for all cancers where we take it one step further and pray that people start promoting cancer prevention globally.

Just like Jessica we all have been struggling with father’s death as well. For mother the struggle is both physical as emotional:

We were told in advance:

We totally agree with Jessica’s words: "father now is in a place where there is no pain".

Jessica’s liver cancer story

Many generations in my family have cancer.

I have had two of my grandparents (grandmas) who have died because of cancer.

I have been struggling with their deaths a lot, and it hurt to see them go through it all too.

I just pray to God, that He will help our doctors find a cure for all cancers.

Its such a horrible cause of death and its so hard for the families to see it happen.

I miss my grandparents so much, but I realize that they are in a better place with no pain, where I will see them again.

Thank you for making this website.

Leave a Comment

Never a tender moment

With extra hugs for Kaye’s liver cancer story…

…strong as you were…

… tender you go…

The above words kind of summarize the last months we spent with father when he was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.

Celebrity music video

metastatic liver cancer story

In stead of showing one of the many James Blunt’s celebrity music video’s, we show you a compilation dedicated to a beloved mother, or as they mention in their video:

Metastatic liver cancer last few days…

But every time I hear :

…strong as you were…
… tender you go…

my hearth misses a beat and our whole palliative care taking cancer story shows again in my mind… Really dreadful to see how cancer can suck out the strength of a person …

For all of you who are missing a loved one (due to cancer or not): lot’s of hugs and love to get through, each day is another day…

Leave a Comment

Liver cancer story from Sue

Palliative care : Questions from Sue and answers from our metastatic liver cancer experience.

Sue’s palliative care questions

Sue left this comment at do you have a liver cancer story?

God Bless You for what you are trying to do.

I am taking care of my 81-year-old mother who up until last year looked and behaved like a 50-year-old. It is so hard to see her in the state that she is in now. She is so weak and does not want to eat anything. I beg her to eat because of all the meds she is taking but she does not want anything. She does drink a lot of water though. She does not want to go to palliative care and so I am doing the best that I can at home. It is so scary and sad.

How do I know when the end is approaching? I would appreciate any help you can provide.

Metastatic liver cancer answers

As you would have noticed: Sue doesn’t mention if her mother has cancer or not. But she does stress :

I am doing the best that I can at home. It is so scary and sad.

Again, although this blog is about metastatic liver cancer, we don’t look from the doctor’s point of view, but from the eyes of the caregiver, be it Sue, or you…

Do what you can for your cancer loved one : it’s the best gift for him/her and yourself

It is so hard to see her in the state that she is in now. This is a feeling we felt as well…

When you are doing the best you can taking care of a palliative cancer patient, you do have to tell yourself that you cannot do more than you are doing.

You give your loved one the live in the best way you can, although we all know that a "normal person’s day looks more full". Father knew that he was given people "more work than they should" although he never asked for that.

Compared to putting a person in a cold hospital environment, far away from the people and place they love the most: taking care of a person at home increases the quality of life of the person you are taking care of BIG TIME!

It always helps when people have talked about this before they get sick, but most likely you don’t have that luxury now. We for sure didn’t but we did know father, we did know what he loved, so we tried to give that as much as possible. That’s all you can do Sue…

She doesn’t want to eat…

Give food in small portions. Father’s belly was a few times bigger than during the times when he didn’t have his metastatic liver cancer. Just imagine you have no more space in your belly: how would you feel adding food to it?

We did give "astronaut drinks" : you can buy them in the local pharmacy: they are very nutritious and father loved them. Having cancer, being tired… most likely everything that’s makes life more easy is welcome.

We also gave father’s favorite chocolate desserts: yes, he had liver cancer, but at that moment the cancer is much more dangerous than a piece of chocolate. But in the long: expect that the next day will most likely be a bit less of everything you experienced today… So appetite became less, his eating became less and his body absorbing the food became less.

She is so weak…

Sometimes father couldn’t stand up out of his bed. We we always afraid father would fall because he looked so weak. Yet he managed to climb the stairs a few times still…

On the other hand, our uncle who had kidney cancer just fell next to his chair when trying to stand up from it, and in the process broke his hand and hip…

So again: you do the best you can and also hope for the best (uncle was monitored by his dear wife 24/7 as well, but 24 hours minus going to the toilet… and after coming back: broken hip and broken hand…)

In an ideal world there are more than 1 care-takers around 24/7. We had about 3 family-members doing that, which is a different story than when you are on your own like Sue.

She does drink a lot of water…

That’s good news, father didn’t drink much…

If there is too much water in the body, it will start accumulating from bottom to top (feet become bigger…).

If there is not enough water, then the skin will become dry. Pull your skin up and see how it bounces back. Then do it with the person you care about: if the skin is not bouncing back, it’s an indication that the person is getting dehydrated.

Again: when talking about terminal cancer: all will get worse every day, so you have to do a difficult balancing act between:

And these are just the primary needs of life, we didn’t talk quality of life yet…

How do I know the end is approaching?

First you take the liver cancer prognosis from your doctors as a guidance. Then you make sure like we did: get palliative nurses in every day and make sure the house-doctor comes in every once in a while. Like that they can tell you following their experience "if the end is approaching or not…".

Yet they are not eager to give you that information because nobody can predict the future. It’s a give and take between the care-givers and at the end stage of father’s metastatic liver cancer: the nurses did put their attention to mother: telling her to take better care of herself. Meaning: the end was near "when mother was almost finished and father was as well"…

In medical terms: the liver cancer patient will get jaundice (yellow eyes). Now I one day thought father’s eyes were yellow so I asked the doctor. And the doctor said: you father’s eyes are as normal as possible… In other words: if you don’t have the medical experience, even yellow eyes are not easy to spot.

According to our doctor the last days are approaching when the cancer patient becomes itchy all over… We never experienced this either: father passed away in his sleep…

When you are very close to the person, you feel when the end is near though: the last day father took all the blankets from his bed (it is said in the common believe that that’s a sign of a person that is changing this life for the next). But more compelling were his words to mom: "if I had to do it all over again, I would have done it with you for sure"… Very clear words from a very weak person…

That night his breathing became weaker and the next day there was no more breathing…

Myself I had the feeling that father was "getting worse" suddenly, so I told all my brothers and sisters: if you do want to come still: better come soonest. They all came that week-end: father must have seen that we all managed well without him and the next week he passed this life for a life without pain…

Do you have a liver cancer story?

If you have a cancer story, please share it with us in a comment: it’s more easy to say: you have cancer than it is to deal with cancer… But we see that people that lived with a loved one having cancer do have similar questions, anger, feelings…

So share your story : it will help others and you will find out yourself that you are not alone…

3 Comments

Lydia Shum Liver Cancer

Lydia Shum Din-Ha, one of Hong Kong’s most popular comedian actress, died of liver cancer and other complications on 19 February 2008 at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong .

hing kong lydia shum

Hong Kong Lydia Shum has been on the front to prevent and educate about breast cancer…

The actor was also known as Fei-Fei or Fatty. She was 60 years old. Shum was born to a well-of large family in Shanghai , China and she was fifth among the family’s eight children. In 1960 she made her debut as a child actor.

She was survived by a daughter, Joyce Cheng Yan-Yee from her failed marriage to an actor and singer, Adam Cheng Siu Chow. They were married in 1985 after living together for 11 years. She wore a Chinese cheongsam at her wedding due to her weight and years later, she said she regretted not wearing a wedding gown at that time. Only eight months after her daughter was born, the couple divorced.

Shum, had various chronic health problems: cholangitis, diabetes and hypertension. In 2002, she underwent surgery to remove 32 gallstones. In September 2006, Shum was diagnosed with liver tumor and cancer around the gallbladder. A third of her liver was removed in July 2007.

lydia shum

Lydia Shum receiving
"The lifetime achievement award"
at Hong Kong TVB’s 40th anniversary awards on
Saturday, November 17, 2007

Even with 1/4th of her liver it looks that Lydia Shum still "looks ok" for the average onlooker.

As we all know who went through this: what they don’t show is what people don’t know… Cancer is not a word, it’s a tragedy that affects everybody touching it.

Leave a Comment

Death of actor Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze, 55, who starred in Ghost with Demi Moore and Dirty Dancing has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as reported initially by the National Enquirer and New York Post. Now his doctor has confirmed this as well.

ghost patrick swayze

Ghost Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore

patrick swayze dirty dancing

Patrick Swayze dirty dancing with Jennifer Grey

Death sentence rumours

We all have to die sooner or later, it’s just the way it is brought to you that makes a hell of a difference…

According to Dr George Fisher, Patrick Swayze has “a very limited amount of the disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far”. George appeared to be responding to rumours that the actor was seriously ill and has only weeks to live.

Patrick Swayze pancreatic cancer

Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late January 2008. He has been undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments at the Stanford University Medical Centre.

lisa niemiThe actor’s rep has indicated that the actor will be continuing with his normal schedule and working on his upcoming projects.

Swayze has been married to Lisa Niemi since 1975. They met when Lisa, at 15, began dance lessons with Swayze’s mother and they have been inseparable since then. When his sister, Vicky, passed away, Swayze attended a clinic to treat his alcoholism..

Read more about Pancreatic Cancer

3 Comments

Primary and secondary liver cancer treatments

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

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:

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:

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

4 Comments