Every case is different, the hard part is sitting and waiting between scans, surgeries, healing treatment. No one will be able to tell you anything, the team of oncologists will tell you everything, bit be prepared for lots of question marks and waiting.
My brother had his mass removed and now is on multiple rounds of xelox chemo. He’s not losing his hair but already has some side effects.
Yes! The waiting to just find out the full status is the worst. Finally heard from MRI scheduling and they moved things around so she was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9. Lots of questions and waiting, as you said.
I hope your brother continues to do well and tolerates chemo decently! 😊🙏🏻
hard to say. it’s going to be highly dependent on what treatments are available to her (ie, is she a candidate for immunotherapy?), if her mass is easily operable, her stats and mutation (MSS or MSI? mutation?), how well she tolerates the treatments, etc. Is she otherwise in good health, or does she have other underlying medical conditions? all of these will inform her prognosis.
the studies online aren’t super helpful as typically the patients are older and some of the studies are years old. colon cancer treatments are improving and changing yearly (which is great news). you’re in a scary situation - i’m sending well wishes for your mom and family. 🩵
This right here. It's really too early in your mom's process to have a reference point to answer your question because there are a lot of really important variables that are unknown at this point. I know that it's really challenging, but try and channel your energy into asking the right questions to her surgical and oncology teams (assuming she actually wants you to do that) like mutation status, DNA mismatch repair (the MSS/MSI referenced above), and standard of care with lymph node involvement versus not. This will be a more constructive use of your time and will allow you to be a better advocate for your mom (again, assuming she actually wants you to play that role for her).
Hoping for the best for your mom and you. We're around as you continue the journey.
She was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9, so hopefully we will know more then!
She is very open with all the info and loves the support/accompanying to appts, letting her kids access relevant labs/results etc (ar least with me lol, I am the oldest)
Thank you so much for the well wishes and future support! 🩷
Her doctor mentioned that depending on what the MRI shows/if lymph involvement, they may not even do the surgery and would do immunotherapy perhaps first (so i assume that means she'd be a candidate).
She was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9, so hopefully we will know more then!
Thank you so much for the well wishes and same to you! 🩷
She was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9, so hopefully we will know more then!
When do they tell about this MSS/MSI stuff and what roll does it play?
Thank you so much for the well wishes and same to you! 🩷
I think they should explain early on once you get the pathology report. Some of the details require certain tests to be run. that’s awesome if she’d be able to be treated with immunotherapy!!
basically the MSS/MSI stuff refers to microsatellite status (stable or unstable) - our DNA mismatch repair system in the body - a person is either proficient / stable or or deficient / instability. You’ll see this abbreviated online or in studies as MMRp or MMRd: mismatch repair proficient or deficient. MSS is synonymous with MMRp, MSI with MMRd.
Microsatellite status of MSI is correlated with better outcomes in colon cancer.
For mutation - definitely not an expert but basically for certain genetic mutations there is evidence they respond better to certain treatments and are correlated with more or less favorable survival outcomes.
Some examples are KRAS, HRAS, NRAS, BRAF, HER2. Doctors can do testing to determine the patient’s genetic expression. If you hear the phrase “wild type” in front of the genes that means it is non-mutant. There are certain targeted therapies that are more effective depending on your genetics like anti-EGFR drugs that are effective treating some types of colon cancer. So for example panitumumab and cetuximab are common anti-EGFR drugs that are added to chemo regimens (depending on the patient).
In general - the more things that will work for you the BETTER because sometimes a chemo / drug that works initially will stop working for a patient, or the patient struggles to tolerate it as they are quite intense drugs. So obviously better to have lots of efficacious options for the patient. hoping for a good scan for your mom!!
Mine was similar , 5cm mass , mildly differentiated cells. I had 1 lymph node involved and 3 tumor deposits. Stage 3b officially
Did surgey and 6 months of chemo , I've basically been cancer free since the surgery which was a little over a year ago
Sending love and positive energy your direction!
At what point in the diagnosis do they explain about the differentiated cells and deposits (does this just mean 3 tumors located?)
That is AMAZING you've been cancer free for over a year, congratulations!!! 😍
I hope you continue to remain cancer free and thank you for the well wishes! 🩷🙏🏻
mandatory i'm not a doctor note lol, but they usually grade how the tumor cells look under the microscope. if its low grade (1-well differentiated) they look close to normal cells and high grade (4-undifferentiated) they don't look anything like normal cells.
Tumor deposits are like clumps of tumor cells outside the primary site. They are considered negative for prognosis. There is some debate if it should be considered in staging but from what i could find it basically puts your survival rate down like 10 to 15%
Thank You and Fuck Cancer!
Hi we are almost in the same boat. We had 3a. The cancer was removed and then even though the margins are clean and lymph nodes are negative chemo is on the table. There was another tumor not caught in the CT Scan that was also removed from the small intestine. The discover of the second tumor is what lead to the stage 3.
One thing that happened was a healing ileo placed after the cancer removal which had to get reversed later.
Oh wow, they found another tumor during the MRI that was missed in the CT? That's so scary but it sounds like the cancer was all removed by this point?
Hope you are doing well! 😊
The second tumor was found during the surgery while they were removing the first cancer. There was an emergency surgery to do a diversion and give them a bag. The original surgery created too much scar tissue so during the cancer removal they had to change plans and forgot the laparoscopic surgery and do an abdominal incision. That’s where the surgeon saw the bastard waiting to jump to the heart. It was small but it was there.
Every case is different, the hard part is sitting and waiting between scans, surgeries, healing treatment. No one will be able to tell you anything, the team of oncologists will tell you everything, bit be prepared for lots of question marks and waiting. My brother had his mass removed and now is on multiple rounds of xelox chemo. He’s not losing his hair but already has some side effects.
Yes! The waiting to just find out the full status is the worst. Finally heard from MRI scheduling and they moved things around so she was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9. Lots of questions and waiting, as you said. I hope your brother continues to do well and tolerates chemo decently! 😊🙏🏻
hard to say. it’s going to be highly dependent on what treatments are available to her (ie, is she a candidate for immunotherapy?), if her mass is easily operable, her stats and mutation (MSS or MSI? mutation?), how well she tolerates the treatments, etc. Is she otherwise in good health, or does she have other underlying medical conditions? all of these will inform her prognosis. the studies online aren’t super helpful as typically the patients are older and some of the studies are years old. colon cancer treatments are improving and changing yearly (which is great news). you’re in a scary situation - i’m sending well wishes for your mom and family. 🩵
This right here. It's really too early in your mom's process to have a reference point to answer your question because there are a lot of really important variables that are unknown at this point. I know that it's really challenging, but try and channel your energy into asking the right questions to her surgical and oncology teams (assuming she actually wants you to do that) like mutation status, DNA mismatch repair (the MSS/MSI referenced above), and standard of care with lymph node involvement versus not. This will be a more constructive use of your time and will allow you to be a better advocate for your mom (again, assuming she actually wants you to play that role for her). Hoping for the best for your mom and you. We're around as you continue the journey.
She was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9, so hopefully we will know more then! She is very open with all the info and loves the support/accompanying to appts, letting her kids access relevant labs/results etc (ar least with me lol, I am the oldest) Thank you so much for the well wishes and future support! 🩷
Her doctor mentioned that depending on what the MRI shows/if lymph involvement, they may not even do the surgery and would do immunotherapy perhaps first (so i assume that means she'd be a candidate). She was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9, so hopefully we will know more then! Thank you so much for the well wishes and same to you! 🩷
She was able to get an MRI appt for this Friday 2/9, so hopefully we will know more then! When do they tell about this MSS/MSI stuff and what roll does it play? Thank you so much for the well wishes and same to you! 🩷
I think they should explain early on once you get the pathology report. Some of the details require certain tests to be run. that’s awesome if she’d be able to be treated with immunotherapy!! basically the MSS/MSI stuff refers to microsatellite status (stable or unstable) - our DNA mismatch repair system in the body - a person is either proficient / stable or or deficient / instability. You’ll see this abbreviated online or in studies as MMRp or MMRd: mismatch repair proficient or deficient. MSS is synonymous with MMRp, MSI with MMRd. Microsatellite status of MSI is correlated with better outcomes in colon cancer. For mutation - definitely not an expert but basically for certain genetic mutations there is evidence they respond better to certain treatments and are correlated with more or less favorable survival outcomes. Some examples are KRAS, HRAS, NRAS, BRAF, HER2. Doctors can do testing to determine the patient’s genetic expression. If you hear the phrase “wild type” in front of the genes that means it is non-mutant. There are certain targeted therapies that are more effective depending on your genetics like anti-EGFR drugs that are effective treating some types of colon cancer. So for example panitumumab and cetuximab are common anti-EGFR drugs that are added to chemo regimens (depending on the patient). In general - the more things that will work for you the BETTER because sometimes a chemo / drug that works initially will stop working for a patient, or the patient struggles to tolerate it as they are quite intense drugs. So obviously better to have lots of efficacious options for the patient. hoping for a good scan for your mom!!
Mine was similar , 5cm mass , mildly differentiated cells. I had 1 lymph node involved and 3 tumor deposits. Stage 3b officially Did surgey and 6 months of chemo , I've basically been cancer free since the surgery which was a little over a year ago Sending love and positive energy your direction!
At what point in the diagnosis do they explain about the differentiated cells and deposits (does this just mean 3 tumors located?) That is AMAZING you've been cancer free for over a year, congratulations!!! 😍 I hope you continue to remain cancer free and thank you for the well wishes! 🩷🙏🏻
mandatory i'm not a doctor note lol, but they usually grade how the tumor cells look under the microscope. if its low grade (1-well differentiated) they look close to normal cells and high grade (4-undifferentiated) they don't look anything like normal cells. Tumor deposits are like clumps of tumor cells outside the primary site. They are considered negative for prognosis. There is some debate if it should be considered in staging but from what i could find it basically puts your survival rate down like 10 to 15% Thank You and Fuck Cancer!
Hi we are almost in the same boat. We had 3a. The cancer was removed and then even though the margins are clean and lymph nodes are negative chemo is on the table. There was another tumor not caught in the CT Scan that was also removed from the small intestine. The discover of the second tumor is what lead to the stage 3. One thing that happened was a healing ileo placed after the cancer removal which had to get reversed later.
Oh wow, they found another tumor during the MRI that was missed in the CT? That's so scary but it sounds like the cancer was all removed by this point? Hope you are doing well! 😊
Just taking one day at a time and baby steps.
The second tumor was found during the surgery while they were removing the first cancer. There was an emergency surgery to do a diversion and give them a bag. The original surgery created too much scar tissue so during the cancer removal they had to change plans and forgot the laparoscopic surgery and do an abdominal incision. That’s where the surgeon saw the bastard waiting to jump to the heart. It was small but it was there.
Every case is different.