Expert: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, M.D. - 3/21/2007

Question
QUESTION: my question is this...............my cousin was just diag. with colon cancer and has surgery, they put on her the bag, it has spread tho her liver, pelvic,lungs,kidneys, she is fixing to under go chemo, what are her chances of survival, and how much time without chemo does she have
ANSWER: Unfortunately in this situation she can not be cured. Chemo therapy can at best here only prolong her survival time and hopefully relieve her symptoms (to some extent and for some time). How long her survival time would be with therapy and without it is unfortunately impossible to say in a single individual case like this. Both patients and cancers are individuals, not clones. The difference in general between chemo therapy and no such therapy has been determined statistically with a large - or rather vast - number of cases of both types. While that gives you a good grasp of the statistical situation and proving that chemo therapy indeed has some therapeutical effect, it is useless in a single case like here. The therapy is also given at a cost of side effects. Again there are individual differences with regards to how severe they are , but sometimes they are quite severe. I'm sorry I have nothing better to tell you!


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i have another question, the type of chemo she will be on is referred to as a pump, they put it on here for 2 days then she rest for two weeks and then again, one of the side affect of this type of chemo is she cant have anything cold, it will cause a shock, the question is, mainly, what does she eat or drink, will she be limited on her diet.u have been a tremondous help, i thank u

Answer
The pump is just the mechanical means of delivering her chemo therapy into her blood stream. Without knowing the precise composition of HER chemo therapy (there are several possibilities with variations) it is unfortunately impossible to precisely answer your question. However the staff taking care of her will know of any dietary restrictions and will be able to tell you.