• Registered: Sat, 11 Aug 2007
  • Posts: 139

Topic: Update on John

We went to see the Dr. today to see if John was a candidate for RFA. He wasn't due to the fact he has too many tumors....BUT they are going to do chemo embolization.
Has anyone had this treatment and can you give me any info what to expect? Does it happen 1 time or many times? How soon do you see results if any?
They did tell us that John would have to spend a couple days in the hospital after the treatment.
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Charlene

  • From: Kalmar, Sweden
  • Registered: Sun, 20 May 2007
  • Posts: 1,951

Re: Update on John

Sorry Charlene,
I have no experiece. You might try searching for chemo embolization and then directly emailing the people who have had experiece. With it being so close to Christmas, this board may not get the traffic it normally does so a direct email might get you more info. Good luck.

Kris

Cancer is a word, not a sentence.

36 year old patient with buckets of hope
  • From: Chesapeake, Virginia
  • Registered: Thu, 17 May 2007
  • Posts: 94

Re: Update on John

Hi Charlene!
My husband has had 4 chemoembolizations since May.  Before the treatments started we were told they would do up to 3 back to back treatments, maybe a 4th and each treatment would be about 6 weeks apart.  The side effects were different for each. Some with very little pain some with a lot.  He was nauseous for a couple of days after each of them, but not so bad that he couldn

  • From: Winston-Salem, NC
  • Registered: Fri, 03 Aug 2007
  • Posts: 376

Re: Update on John

Hi Charlene, Charlie had chemoembolization one time for the sole purpose of trying to shrink the tumors that took up half of his liver.  The surgeon wanted to try this before his resection to see if it would shrink the tumors a little so that he would only have to remove half of Charlie's liver.  It didn't shrink the tumors and the surgeon had to take out a little more than half of Charlie's liver. Charlie is doing well and recovering.  I don't know if Charlie's case is comparable to someone having several of these treatments or not.  I'm sure each person reacts differently.  The chemoembolization was very rough on Charlie.  He was sick, lost weight, couldn't eat, and had excessive sweating.  He could taste and smell chemo for a couple of weeks after.  He said it was worse than 14 weeks of Gemzar chemo.  Hope it helps to share his experience with you and I don't think it's as bad for everyone.

Carol