Husband and Mother with Cancer

Went to the Dr. with my Mom yesterday while husband was receiving chemo.
Liver cancer of Mom's is a lot worse than family Dr. said. First, no cure
for liver cancer. Surgery is out of the question. Average expectancy after
diagnosis is 6 months. He is going to map the arteries in the liver and must
be going to burn off any leading to the lungs, stomach and etc. If
everything works out she has to see a radiologist and an oncologist also for
them to okay procedure. He will order radioactive pellets from Canada at a
whopping $40000.00 an injection. These will be injected into the liver and
supposedly cancer cells suck them up like sugar and it will kill them. He
feels this will be the least damaging and best bet for her. He feels if he
can do this it will increase her time 2 to 3 times what is average with a
good quality of life in that time. There are other things that can be done
but feels at her age and health this is the best bet. After the injection he
said she might feel like she had a mild case of the flu for a couple of days
and maybe a few twinges at the injection site but no worse than the biopsy.
Has appointment with radiologist De. 27, Dr. to do the mapping Jan.2 and
oncologist visit on Jan 7. Going to be a busy time with 2 of them with
cancer. Can only hope for the best. Will keep you updated on both as more
info comes to light.

Gloria Koshinski wrote:

> Went to the Dr. with my Mom yesterday while husband was receiving chemo.
> Liver cancer of Mom's is a lot worse than family Dr. said. First, no cure
> for liver cancer. Surgery is out of the question. Average expectancy after
> diagnosis is 6 months. He is going to map the arteries in the liver and must
> be going to burn off any leading to the lungs, stomach and etc. If
> everything works out she has to see a radiologist and an oncologist also for
> them to okay procedure. He will order radioactive pellets from Canada at a
> whopping $40000.00 an injection. These will be injected into the liver and
> supposedly cancer cells suck them up like sugar and it will kill them. He
> feels this will be the least damaging and best bet for her. He feels if he
> can do this it will increase her time 2 to 3 times what is average with a
> good quality of life in that time. There are other things that can be done
> but feels at her age and health this is the best bet. After the injection he
> said she might feel like she had a mild case of the flu for a couple of days
> and maybe a few twinges at the injection site but no worse than the biopsy.
> Has appointment with radiologist De. 27, Dr. to do the mapping Jan.2 and
> oncologist visit on Jan 7. Going to be a busy time with 2 of them with
> cancer. Can only hope for the best. Will keep you updated on both as more
> info comes to light.

Hello Gloria,
This may not be the centre she's going to, but please read the sections here.
It will give you ideas of what questions to ask.
http://www.umgcc.org/sir-spheres/faq.htm
In one section, it mentions one treatment per lobe (done at separate times).
One section says stay in hospital 3?- 6 hours until sedative has worn off;
average stay, I forget, 3 days (maybe for people who have no one to drive them.
Good luck. Younger patients (here) have had it done and tolerated it well.
I hope you can have a little Christmas time, amongst being a caregiver and some
rest.
It's a lot for one person to cope with.
Hospice, once a week, may be very helpful with caring for your mother and
supporting you.
J