@tammie4jc
I hope your adult children are some support.
I live in Rochester, but am only in town part of summer. Other times in northern MN cabin. If anything I can do to help or just someone to talk to, let me know. I am cancer survivor, but never in same situation you are in.
Yes.
That was hands down the hardest thing I’ve had to do. Heartbreaking.
Thank you for offering your ear! I appreciate it greatly.
My oldest daughter is very helpful but she has one year of college left. When she goes back it will be very hard. I won’t see her again until Christmas & that’s not guaranteed.
Yes.
That was hands down the hardest thing I’ve had to do. Heartbreaking.
Thank you for offering your ear! I appreciate it greatly.
My oldest daughter is very helpful but she has one year of college left. When she goes back it will be very hard. I won’t see her again until Christmas & that’s not guaranteed.
I can imagine that telling your family about the diagnosis was one of the hardest things you've had to do. You might appreciate some of the comments and resources shared in this related discussion:
- Family dynamics challenging when a parent has cancer: Want to connect https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/group-focused-on-families-and-parent-with-cancer/
When do you travel to Mayo Clinic? Will you have someone accompany you?
I travel 7/16 - my husband is coming with this time. We are estranged though living in the same house. He’s not much support.
The lack of a sense of urgency is really frustrating. Not just at Mayo but it seems everywhere. It’s caused resection to be no longer an option. And allowed stage 2 to progress to stage 4. And still I still and wait.
By the time treatment is started who knows how & where it’s spread.
Has anyone switched from Mayo to else where with better results or is this just how it goes?
Question any information using CA 19-9 to determine reoccurrence before tumor is large enough to be identified by CT scan.
With pancreatic cancer if their was elevated CA 19-9 prior to surgery then around 60% of the time an increasing CA 19-9 trend was identified before the tumor could be detected with CT scan.
History:
Gallbladder cancer found when it was removed 1.6 cm.
PET scan 20 days later showed tumor in liver section IVb.
Liver resection segment 4B, tumor 3.5 cm, margins clear.
Followed with 26 external beam radiation and 5FU chemo.
CA 19-9 continues to show downward trend and is approaching normal levels.
5 months after liver resection CT scan could not detect any tumor.
Current plan is to test CA 19-9 every 40 days and CT scan every 6 months. Frequency to be increased if CA 19-9 test establishes an increasing trend
Hello, my wife is going through a very similar case like yours. She had a 1.5 gallbladder cancer tumour and possibly a 1cm liver tumour (still waiting on an MRI result) in segment V. How are you doing?
Hello, my wife is going through a very similar case like yours. She had a 1.5 gallbladder cancer tumour and possibly a 1cm liver tumour (still waiting on an MRI result) in segment V. How are you doing?
Hello @maortiz1987 and welcome to Mayo Connect. I appreciate you sharing about your wife's experience with gall bladder cancer. From your post, this looks like a recent diagnosis. Is that correct?
How long ago was your wife's surgery? Was "1.5" the size of the tumor. Was her gall bladder tumor staged?
Hello @maortiz1987 and welcome to Mayo Connect. I appreciate you sharing about your wife's experience with gall bladder cancer. From your post, this looks like a recent diagnosis. Is that correct?
How long ago was your wife's surgery? Was "1.5" the size of the tumor. Was her gall bladder tumor staged?
Hello Teresa. Yes, the 1.5 cm tumor was incidentally found after a routine cholycystectomy since she had gallstones for 20 years. The tumor was staged as pT2 borderline pT3. No perotineal invasion and All margings negative for invasive carcinoma. The contrast CT scan only showed a 1cm indeterminate hypodense Liver lesion in segment 5. An MRI with contrast was ordered to better asses the lesion. She will be having a billiary duct resection eventually. Hopefully soon
Hello Teresa. Yes, the 1.5 cm tumor was incidentally found after a routine cholycystectomy since she had gallstones for 20 years. The tumor was staged as pT2 borderline pT3. No perotineal invasion and All margings negative for invasive carcinoma. The contrast CT scan only showed a 1cm indeterminate hypodense Liver lesion in segment 5. An MRI with contrast was ordered to better asses the lesion. She will be having a billiary duct resection eventually. Hopefully soon
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Yes.
That was hands down the hardest thing I’ve had to do. Heartbreaking.
Thank you for offering your ear! I appreciate it greatly.
My oldest daughter is very helpful but she has one year of college left. When she goes back it will be very hard. I won’t see her again until Christmas & that’s not guaranteed.
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1 ReactionHi @tammie4jc, I'm tagging fellow members like @pgf @waflanders @alie @formayor @heartofgold57 @viopp @sonic997 @johnny2053 @edie78t. who have experience with gallbladder cancer either as a patient or family caregiver.
I can imagine that telling your family about the diagnosis was one of the hardest things you've had to do. You might appreciate some of the comments and resources shared in this related discussion:
- Family dynamics challenging when a parent has cancer: Want to connect
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/group-focused-on-families-and-parent-with-cancer/
When do you travel to Mayo Clinic? Will you have someone accompany you?
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1 ReactionThank you @colleenyoung
I travel 7/16 - my husband is coming with this time. We are estranged though living in the same house. He’s not much support.
The lack of a sense of urgency is really frustrating. Not just at Mayo but it seems everywhere. It’s caused resection to be no longer an option. And allowed stage 2 to progress to stage 4. And still I still and wait.
By the time treatment is started who knows how & where it’s spread.
Has anyone switched from Mayo to else where with better results or is this just how it goes?
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsHello, my wife is going through a very similar case like yours. She had a 1.5 gallbladder cancer tumour and possibly a 1cm liver tumour (still waiting on an MRI result) in segment V. How are you doing?
Hello @maortiz1987 and welcome to Mayo Connect. I appreciate you sharing about your wife's experience with gall bladder cancer. From your post, this looks like a recent diagnosis. Is that correct?
How long ago was your wife's surgery? Was "1.5" the size of the tumor. Was her gall bladder tumor staged?
Hello Teresa. Yes, the 1.5 cm tumor was incidentally found after a routine cholycystectomy since she had gallstones for 20 years. The tumor was staged as pT2 borderline pT3. No perotineal invasion and All margings negative for invasive carcinoma. The contrast CT scan only showed a 1cm indeterminate hypodense Liver lesion in segment 5. An MRI with contrast was ordered to better asses the lesion. She will be having a billiary duct resection eventually. Hopefully soon
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1 ReactionShe had the gallbladder removal surgery on june 14th
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1 ReactionCA 19.9 levels is in 14. CEA normal range as well
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1 ReactionThis all sounds good, @maortiz1987. It sounds like she is getting good follow up, as well.
How is she feeling since her surgery? Is her appetite OK and does she have any problems with digestion?
Yes, thank you for asking. She is eating basically everything with no digestive issues
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