My 65 y.O. Father went to er with chest
pain in july (he is recipient of
investigational heart wrap procedure &
thought it was related). Nothing was
found (x-rays, labs, us). In september
he went back with pain in upper abdomin.
Ct showed a 8 cm mass on liver. It was
biopsied & came back as malignant,
undifferentiated "something" which the Dr.
Advised meant that it probably originated
somewhere else. He had an ercp,
colonoscopy, etc & nothing was found
so they did additional tests on the biopsy
slides and said it was melanoma that had
metastized to the liver. He saw an
oncologist down at shands gainesville (u
of fla - where he had heart wrap) that did
a pet scan that showed no mets anywhere
other than liver & wanted to start
chemo with dtic. He elected to have
chemo at home (in jax, fl) so was referred
to local md. Local guy says not melanoma
but cancer that probably originated in the
bile duct. Both physicians very
convincing -- who do we believe????
Local md has started him on chemo &
says with treatment, life expectancy of 9
to 12 months... If it's really melanoma,
won't traditional chemo not affect? If
really bile duct cancer what are other
options. He was told the tumor is
affecting about 80% of the right side of
the liver but not affecting any part of
the left side. Any help will be greatly
appreciated!!!!!
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heathergirdhar
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 07 Dec 2004 Posts: 1 Location: Chicago
Melanoma Posted: 12-07-04 10:41am
Hi michelle,
do you know about the "ocu-mel" list serv.
If your dad has metastatic melanoma that
is in the liver, its a site full of
wonderful supportive people who are very
knowledgeable.
my dad has melanoma in liver. He's
undergoing chemo and immuno therapy.
You're right, not very affective.
Heather
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happy2Bme
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 4 Location: wisconsin
Hey Posted: 01-24-05 16:53pm
Sometimes this stuff is confusing. Over
christmas my mom went to the e.R. With
leg pain, and the found blood clots that
had moved to her lungs so they kept her in
the hospital. Later they did a ct scan
and saw a mass on her liver. So they did
an exploritory surgery and thought it was
just an infection but when they cultured
the cells it was cancer. Then they told
us that it was treatable with surgery now
they are telling us that is is posibly
terminally ill. So if you ever nee to
talk with someone I now what your going
through.
Heres my e-mail
"lschacker07@moundsparkacademy.Org"
laura
