BC to liver

shondagaylord · 03-31-2010, 04:12 PM

Hello all,

I am curious about liver mets and anyones experience with such. IE: treatment, side effects of the cancer it self on the liver, length of time known living with this situation. I have benn dealing with metastatic breast cancer for 4 years to bone only, and today was told I had 5-6 spots show up in my liver. 3 are very small and the other 2 are 1.0 & 1.3 cm. Surgery was not an option for me I was told. We have stopped Taxol after 9 months of treatment and I am starting Tykerb tonight with herceptain. I would really like to hear opinions and experiences.
Very Sad in Rockwall, Texas tonight!

Thank you
Shonda

Mary Anne in TX · 03-31-2010, 04:17 PM

Shonda, I have little to offer as advice, but I wanted to send my concern and love to you. I know that you have great care, but what about seeking one more opinion to give some power to your choices and decision. I send my prayers and encouragement. ma

Sheila · 03-31-2010, 04:43 PM

Shonda
I am so sorry that you have this recent developement....my girl friend (she's not Her2+) has been dealing with raging liver mets for almost 3 years now...she is currently on Xeloda, which has them managed...she was also on Avastin and Taxol for a while....there are options, I was on the Tykerb/Herceptin and found it easy to take...but I had chest mets and it didnt work on them....the thing to remember is each combo can do different things on different people....you are in my prayers that this new one will work.
By the way, I also have twins...girls that are soon to be 35!

shondagaylord · 03-31-2010, 05:50 PM

Thank you ladies, I am going to seek a 2nd opinion at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas.

Sheila, I remember you telling me you had twins a couple of years ago. They are awesome!!

lexigirl · 03-31-2010, 06:40 PM

I have no advice on liver mets, but wanted you to know that I am thinking of you. I am very hopeful that a new combo will knock the mets out of your liver.

Hugs,
Lexi

Rich66 · 03-31-2010, 08:15 PM

Liver mets
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...053#post221053

ElaineM · 03-31-2010, 09:32 PM

I never had liver mets, but I have my fingers crossed for you. I hope the Herceptin and Tykerb helps.

Jean · 03-31-2010, 09:45 PM

Just wanted to wish you the very best with your new treatment and I am keeping you in my prayers.

jean

Ellie F · 04-01-2010, 01:36 AM

Wishing you the very best. Please let us know how you go on with your second opinion.
Lots of positive thoughts coming your way.
Ellie

jml · 04-01-2010, 06:50 AM

Hi Shonda~

Damn this disease. I'm so sorry.
I'm glad you already have another treatment plan in place.

I have been Stage IV with liver mets for ~8yrs. Ever since my primary diagnosis. At one point my liver was riddled with lesions-both lobes. Taxol/Herceptin got my liver all cleaned up for a year, but then dealt with a single recurrent spot in the R lobe. I ended up having a liver resection & have been NED there ever since.

I was fortunate not to have any complications, severe side effects with the mets or treatment. My liver function was normal the entire time too. I remember my doc telling me that you can function normally on just 15% of healthy liver.

Sending you positive vibes & prayers.
I hope once you get that Tykerb & Herceptin on board
it'll get to kicking those lesions into oblivion.

Hang in there & Keep the Faith~

Jessica

Lori R · 04-01-2010, 07:15 AM

Shonda,
Sorry to hear that you must attend to a handful of liver mets. I am confident that you will beat these suckers back and move on with your life.

I had a liver met upon diagnosis back in 2007 and have been living a very active life. Per my signature, I was on taxotere + herceptin which knocked back the met for 1 1/2 years. When it returned I used cryosurgery to immediately zap it and then did a a full round of Abraxanne to kill any remaining cells. So far NED again. (BTW..Abraxanne for me was VERY easy....I hardly knew I was on chemo)

While surgery might not be an option, please investigate cryosurgery as an option. Your onc will need to refer you to an interventional radiologist. The interventional radiologist that I went to indicated that the procedure could be performed in instances where there are multiple tumors. So....don't count yourself out.

There have been recent articles posted here about cryosurgery triggering an immune response. The focus was on using cryosurgery to eliminate the primary tumor in the breast but....always the optimist, I am hoping that it has a similar response when used in the liver. The procedure was an outpatient procedure with minimal down time (1 day).

Bottom line though......with a liver met I've had no pain, fatigue ...anything. The most difficult part is the uncertainty and of course the treatments.

Wishing you ALL the best and encourage you to consider this option.

Love Lori

shondagaylord · 04-02-2010, 03:14 PM

Jessica... I am assuming that the resection was surgery to remove the lobe?

Lori... Can you tell me more about cryosurgery? I am researching that in a second, but is it ever an option for multiple or only a single?

Thank you all so much for the inspiring words of encouragement.

Shonda

jml · 04-03-2010, 05:10 PM

Yes, they removed the R lobe of my liver - which is 55% of the organ.As I mentioned, I've been NED in that lobe ever since.We
opted for this procedure since I'd had a history of extensive mets, though it was just one stubborn one we had our eye on.
Had there been more than one met, my surgeon would have RFA'd the others and removed the lobe.
I have unfortunately been battling other mets in the nodes in my belly, and 2 in the L lobe of my liver. But this Ixempra/Herceptin combo seems to really be doing the trick, so I'm keeping fingers crossed for some good, REALLY GOOD news, when I have my next scans in a couple of weeks.
Wishing for great options & treatment response for you.
Keep us posted~

Jml

Lori R · 04-04-2010, 11:13 AM

Shonda,
Sorry for the delayed response.....Out enjoying spring skiing in here in Colorado.

I wrote a lengthy overview of my cryosurgery procedure. I'll put everyone to sleep if I repeat it here. I found it by going to "Search", selected search on thread and entered cryosurgery. It pulled up my thread titled "cryosurgery procedure".

I am glad I wrote that up because I already forgot some of the details.

See if you can find it...if not, let me know and I'll cut and past into a lengthy private message for you.

Please....keep us posted as it seems every year there are new and different options.

JML.....thank you for posting regarding the liver resection. It is good to know that that remains yet another option.

Rich66 · 04-04-2010, 12:19 PM

Link to Lori's summary:
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...gery+procedure

shondagaylord · 04-04-2010, 08:30 PM

Thank you Lori for the information and Rich for the link. I am on it tomorrow when I wake up.

Good Night
Shonda

SoCalGal · 04-05-2010, 05:40 PM

Just wanted to say that I've had very good luck on herceptin, tykerb, avastin & zometa. By luck I mean stable.

Joan M · 04-12-2010, 08:05 PM

Shonda,

Sorry to hear about the bc spreading to your liver.

I would also suggest that you also ask MD Anderson about radiofrequency ablation. While cryoablation freezes tumors, RFA burns them with radio waves (not radiation). RFA of the liver is very common and has been around for awhile. Both procedures are done by interventional radiologists, and it would be best to find out directly from them whether you are a candidate. I had RFA of the lung in August 2008.

Also, unlike chemo, these procedures do not discriminate. They're worth checking into.

In my case, I had a rare problem in that a fungus grew in the cavity created by the probe, but this would not be the case with a liver ablation (hot or cold). Last July I had to have lung surgery to get rid of the fungus, but there was no cancer in the pathology report. Two weeks ago I had scans of the lungs, abdomen and pelvis and all were clean, which means there was still no cancer in the lung.

Joan