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Hi Jessica,
Congratulations on getting that big surgery behind you! I had the left lobe of my liver resected in 2002 and was in the hospital for 7 days, so you really did well getting out of there in 5!
I don't remember the particulars of your case, but I didn't have any chemo after my surgery. My tumor markers did climb about 6 months after my resection and even though scans failed to show anything, my Onc and I decided I would go on Xeloda along with my Herceptin for awhile to see if the markers would come down. Well, I crashed on the Xeloda and ended up in the hospital for a week. I had diarhea, fever, was dehydrated and my blood counts had plummeted. They put me on four different antibiotics to get things back under control. At least my tumor markers dropped back down in a big hurry! I have been NED in my body ever since. I did however have a brain tumor this summer that was successfully treated with Gamma Knife.
I still wonder about the Xeloda. My Onc said my body couldn't metabolize the drug and that is why it built up to such toxic levels and almost did me in. He said I would never be able to use it again. I have to wonder though, because I have heard that many people cannot tolerate it unless the dosage is reduced by as much as 50% sometimes. So if the need should ever present itself, I would have to dig into this further.
Anyway, didn't mean to get off track! I guess I was just wondering why they are wanting to give you chemo after surgery. Do you still have activity elsewhere? Chemo was never mentioned after my surgery, as my pathology reports came back completely clean. I did miss my Herceptin treatment while I was in the hospital though. Other than that, I have been on it nonstop since Oct. 2001.
Wishing you continued good healing, Kim in CA
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