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advice? What is this ?

 
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bmh
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Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 1
Location: toronto
PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:49 pm    Post subject: advice? Reply with quote
i recently found out my dad has liver cancer, not suprising considered the way he drank but i need some info before i go to the doctors with him.

at this point we only he was diagnosed a few weeks back and the doctor has apparently given him 6-9 months. now, we are not sure what is true yet as his girlfriend is quite old and has medical problems of her own. any research i've done states that doctor's always seem to give much longer than the patient actually survives. as for my dad, he looks to be in advanced stage due to his jauniced colour and weight loss.

any thoughts?
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seage
Regular


Joined: 19 Jan 2006
Posts: 20
PostPosted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:47 pm    Post subject: Re: advice? Reply with quote
I am an advanced liver cancer patient myself and was given 6-12months. What i have to say below probably isn't very assuring (so just ignore what i say if it doesn't sound right). But just thought i'd share with you what your doctor may have meant.

Now the MEDIAN survival from diagnosis of an advanced HCC patient is 6-12 months. Median is the mid-point of the survey, ie. 50% would have died within 6-12 months. In other words, half of the patients would pass away within that time.

On the other hand, that also means half the patients survive more than 6-12months. Only 2% survive after 5 years. That means people do survive up to 5 years. It's rare but it does happen.

The bad news, i'm afraid, is that the jaundice isn't a good sign since it shows liver failure. Neither is the weight loss.

But a pharmacist friend of mine said it best, a doctor can only quote statistics - if he makes a prediction, he's playing god. So what the doc told you were just stats, no one really knows how long your dad has.

it is cliched but i guess you just have to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
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