HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - 3 months after ending Cisplatin/Taxol/Herceptin, liver tumors came back

StephN · 08-12-2006, 11:30 AM

... that the "spot" on your liver scan is not a new lesion.

I want to make a few comments on this situation.

First of all, TECHS are not supposed to offer any opinions on what they see on scans. Usually they are in another room behind a window and only the assistant comes out to help us off the table and out of the room.
I would not put any stock in what the tech says. You have to see your onc for the official results.

Secondly, is the spot in the same place as one of the old lesions, or a new area?

Thirdly, we CAN get cysts in our soft organs or around them at ANY TIME of our life. My husband developed a small spot in his left lung over a year ago and the scans show no growth so they assume a cyst. A chest x-ray one year prior did not show a thing in that same place.

Fourth - they MUST do a PET scan to confirm, but maybe after a month or so and you have the liver checked again for changes in that spot.

As a nearly five year survivor of raging liver mets, I have had control of this cancer for over 4 years with only Herceptin. I had one little stable spot about 5-6mm on my liver scans for a long time and it did not show on the last one. So, these things CAN come and go without treatment if they are not lesions.

This is a freaky disease and I know you have a family history to add to your concern. But, try to think in terms that it may be YOU that breaks that viscious cycle with the help of the new treatments. I am sure you can do it!

P.S. Navelbine will thin your hair - don't know about Xeloda.

08-12-2006, 11:30 AM	#7
StephN Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Misty woods of WA State Posts: 4,128	Keep hoping ... ... that the "spot" on your liver scan is not a new lesion. I want to make a few comments on this situation. First of all, TECHS are not supposed to offer any opinions on what they see on scans. Usually they are in another room behind a window and only the assistant comes out to help us off the table and out of the room. I would not put any stock in what the tech says. You have to see your onc for the official results. Secondly, is the spot in the same place as one of the old lesions, or a new area? Thirdly, we CAN get cysts in our soft organs or around them at ANY TIME of our life. My husband developed a small spot in his left lung over a year ago and the scans show no growth so they assume a cyst. A chest x-ray one year prior did not show a thing in that same place. Fourth - they MUST do a PET scan to confirm, but maybe after a month or so and you have the liver checked again for changes in that spot. As a nearly five year survivor of raging liver mets, I have had control of this cancer for over 4 years with only Herceptin. I had one little stable spot about 5-6mm on my liver scans for a long time and it did not show on the last one. So, these things CAN come and go without treatment if they are not lesions. This is a freaky disease and I know you have a family history to add to your concern. But, try to think in terms that it may be YOU that breaks that viscious cycle with the help of the new treatments. I am sure you can do it! P.S. Navelbine will thin your hair - don't know about Xeloda. __________________ "When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest." H.D. Thoreau Live in the moment. MY STORY SO FAR ~~~~ Found suspicious lump 9/2000 Lumpectomy, then node dissection and port placement Stage IIB, 8 pos nodes of 18, Grade 3, ER & PR - Adriamycin 12 weekly, taxotere 4 rounds 36 rads - very little burning 3 mos after rads liver full of tumors, Stage IV Jan 2002, one spot on sternum Weekly Taxol, Navelbine, Herceptin for 27 rounds to NED! 2003 & 2004 no active disease - 3 weekly Herceptin + Zometa Jan 2005 two mets to brain - Gamma Knife on Jan 18 All clear until treated cerebellum spot showing activity on Jan 2006 brain MRI & brain PET Brain surgery on Feb 9, 2006 - no cancer, 100% radiation necrosis - tumor was still dying Continue as NED while on Herceptin & quarterly Zometa Fall-2006 - off Zometa - watching one small brain spot (scar?) 2007 - spot/scar in brain stable - finished anticoagulation therapy for clot along my port-a-catheter - 3 angioplasties to unblock vena cava 2008 - Brain and body still NED! Port removed and scans in Dec. Dec 2008 - stop Herceptin - Vaccine Trial at U of W begun in Oct. of 2011 STILL NED everywhere in Feb 2014 - on wing & prayer 7/14 - Started twice yearly Zometa for my bones Jan. 2015 checkup still shows NED 2015 Neuropathy in feet - otherwise all OK - still NED. Same news for 2016 and all of 2017. Nov of 2017 - had small skin cancer removed from my face. Will have Zometa end of Jan. 2018. Last edited by StephN; 08-13-2006 at 08:22 AM..