I am not the type to just take what I’m told and not challenge it.  Just ask my mom!

In keeping true to form, I’ve been doing a little research to find out as much as I can about this cancer business.  The type of cancer my mom has is called hepatocellular carcinoma.  It is the most common type of liver cancer but the odd thing is that most people who develop liver cancer are from developing areas such as China or S. Africa.  There seems to be a link to a carcinogenic mold that is common in those regions. 

Mom mentioned that she had a blood test on Friday to test for the hereditary factors of liver cancer.  That piece didn’t make a lot of sense to me until I did some digging. 

What is seems the doctors are questioning is why my mom would get liver cancer without any of the predisposing conditions that typically accompany such a diagnosis.  She doesn’t have Hepatitis B or C, and has no cirrhosis or other liver damage that increases one’s risk of getting liver cancer.   My mom had mentioned that she became very ill whenever she’d take vitamins with iron.   I learned that there’s a condition called Hereditary Hemochromatosis  (or iron overload) that increases a person’s risk of developing liver cancer to 30%.  Tests to determine this condition are simple and often part of routine blood work – or at least a simple test for iron or ferritin in the blood.  Hemochromatosis will show elevated iron levels because the body is not getting rid of the iron that it should, and it accumulates in various organs (such as the liver) where it will cause damage.

We don’t know if this is something my mom has, but it is interesting and may help shed some light for sorting out the craziness of this whole ordeal. 

When looking up information on liver cancer, it is difficult to not be struck by the poor prognosis - the average life expectancy being about 9 months.   This scares the crap out of me!   But, the more I’ve been reading about the disease, I am hopeful that there are a few things in our favor: 

1. The statistics include those people from developing countries where the disease is found in its more advanced stages.
2. Most cases occur in areas where medical treatment is not nearly as good as in the US. 
3. Most people with liver cancer have other conditions that inhibit liver function like Hepatitis B or C, or Cirrhosis of the Liver.

I don’t know how pertinent these points are but they give me hope that my mom is in a much better position to live longer than most with this disease. 

I will keep digging around to see what other ammo I can gather with which to start bombarding the medical community.   Actually, the clinic she goes to is totally open to questions from family members so we have a secret code to get access to my mom’s medical information directly from the clinic.  I think they are open to questions  but I don’t really know their protocol yet. 

Mom has an appointment on Monday morning with the Radiation Oncology folks to start mapping out that plan.  I’m glad they are going to do something to try to get the tumor size reduced.  If luck is on our side, the chemotherapy pills she will take won’t make her nauseous and will work to shrink the tumors in the liver.  I guess I feel very hopeful that there are some benefits to having the rest of her liver pretty healthy.   And it seems like the approach her doctors are taking are right in line with everything I’ve been reading about treatment options.