Happy re-birthday!

[Guest guest]

To Gene A.! 8/13/06

From the archives of 2007:

Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 9:43 AM

Subject: Re: Looking for cancer in a strictured CBD

Up until two weeks ago, I was. I've been a member of the group here

for seven years, but don't post very much anymore. My PSC was dormant

for most of the ten years since I was diagnosed in 1997. Then,

earlier this year, my fatigue started to get worse and I began to lose

weight. I had an ERCP done in mid-June, and the biopsies from both

internal bile ducts came back positive for cancer. An EUS that was

done two weeks later revealed a 1 centimeter mass near where the CBD

exits the liver. Needless to say, I was devastated, since nothing had

ever come up on any of my previous blood tests to indicate the

presence of CCA.

In mid-July, I began a five-week chemo and radiation treatment program

at University Hospital in Denver in hopes of shrinking the tumor and

allowing a transplant to take place. All subsequent tests had showed

that it had not yet spread beyond the liver. My MELD score was only

13, so it was extremely unlikely that I was going to get a cadaveric

liver. However, I had several living donor candidates step forward on

my behalf, and my 34 year old nephew was scheduled to fly out from New

York City on Aug. 13th to be tested.

On Aug. 9th, my MELD got bumped up to 21. Four days later, Aug. 13th,

I got the call at 1:30 in the morning to come down to the hospital by

6:00 a.m. since they had a liver available for me. I live four hours

away in the mountains, and jumped in the car and drove like mad to get

there in time. At ten o'clock that morning, I got my new liver.

Everything went very smoothly. I was on the table for four hours,

took one unit of blood, and was out of the hospital in eight days.

To say that the last two weeks have been a whirlwind for me would be a

extreme understatement. Two months ago, I was told that I had CCA and

might have six months to live. Today, all indications are that the

cancer was contained within the liver and did not spread. They may

have me complete the chemo and radiation program as a precautionary

measure, since I had only done three of the five weeks before tx. I

will also get a PETscan in three months.

So the answer to your question, , is that yes, people with CCA

can still get a transplant, for which I am extremely grateful!

Gene