my Mom w/ stage 4 Gastric carcinoma

Mattshir · New User Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Posts: 1

Hi all, I'd like to share my story with everyone and then ask you guys some questions. I thank everyone in advance for taking time to read my post.

My Mom has been suffering from stomach cancer since early 2005, but diagnosed in Aug 2005.
the doctors had to remove 95% of her stomach+4 affected lymph nodes and this happened on September 2005. The cancer is called Gastric Carcinoma. After a few trials of chemotherapy earlier this year, she had a recurrence of the cancer after a 2-MONTH long break from chemo. Before the 2-month break, her CT scan was normal, but unfortunately her CT scan in July indicated the metastasis. Unfortunately, the spread was quick enough to invade her ovaries and create 2 big tumor masses in her abdomen.

She had these removed during the first week of August this year.
Right now, she is in a very bad health condition. We are told by her surgeon that she will not survive this cancer because it had spread quite far, although they did not give us a time. They only said it depends on her strength and that they cannot really predict a time.

Right now, I would do anything for her to extend the unknown time as much as possible. I have been searching the net for famous cancer centers across the United States. We live in 45 minutes west of Chicago, but I would take her anywhere to get positive results. I found this website and I searched about it for a while, I thought you guys can give me some info about it, or maybe get to know it, as well:

www.cancernet.com

So, Please let me know what you guys think.

luscdavis · New User Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 4

Hi Mattshir, I was diagnosed early Dec. 2005. I was having reflux for probably over a year. Much of life was high stress. daughter in Iraq, my job etc. I had an inner feeling that something was not right. I had a couple of episodes where I thought I had a cardiac problem. a pain uderneath my sternum that riadiated to the back. To make a long story short, I went to see a GI MD who did a colonscopy and an EGD. The stomach showed erosion with 3 crater- like lesions. The biopsy, showed adeniocarcinoma. He repeated the EGD and repeated the biopsy in the upper, middle and lower parts of the stomach. All were positive for cancer. The intersting thing was that prior to the EGD the CT scans showed nothng. I was encouraged to see a surgeon an oncologlist. The labs with the cancer markers were normal. The PET Scan showed the tumor. On Dec. 15 2005, I underwent surgery with the the surgeons intent to remove probably these small lesions or part of my stomach. When I was opened up the cancer was all outside the stomach and climbing up the espohagus. My surgeon consulted with another oncologlist surgeon and my oncologlist while I was on the OR table. She made the decison to not take out the stomach and therefore she close me up and left everything in since it would have been a huge surgery and she and the other physicians felt I may not survior the surgery. I was stage 4.
I was given a year to live, and told to get my affairs in order.
I underwent IV chemo for 9 weeks. I would be admitted over night for the infusion every 3 weeks. After that run of 9 weeks of chemo the Pet scan showed that the tumor had goten smaller. I then went thru 25 TX's of radiation M-F for 5 weeks.
Folloed by an oral chemo drug called Xeloda. (5FU's.) I was on a high dose 1500mg twice a day.
I never vomited but had some nausea. Dec. 15 2006 mark the one yr. It has been a long journey and after my last 2 Pet Scans , CT scans, labs have been all negative. My onologlist tells me that I walk on ground others have not. He was aggressive in treating me, and I knew that I wanted to battle this also. I feel that not touching the tumor itself, allowed it to keep contain, and the aggressive TX's shrank the tumor. I believe that once you start cutting you risk those cells from spreading.
I have chosen to remain on the Xeloda 1000mg twice a day, with a regime of 2 weeks on and a 2 week off rest period. One of the affects is hand and foot syndrome, but I have tolerated it well. I go in every mth get labs taken and see my oncologlist every mth.
I believe that your mom maybe have suffer nutrition wise and I wonder if keeping her on the chemo would have helped. We all know everyone is an individual and repond differently. Yes, it wa a tough battle and it hasn't been an easy road. I prayed a lot and like yourself had my family and friends support me. I return back to work full time after 5 mths and find that there are those difficult days where anxiety and fear pop in, its only natural. I live in Hawaii which is a long ways.
I don't know how old your mom is, but she neds to gain her mental strenght as well as her physical. One is never that strong to face and do the chemo/radiation, but it's worth the try. I pray all goes well. Let me know how it goes.

drvk · New User Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 7

to the above user

i think u r really lucky to have had a brave doctor... my dad died of stomach ca a few months ago.
he was diagnosed with stg4 inoperable stomach ca he had 6 cycles of chemo with 5fu and etoposide and was responding very well to it without any side effect and the PET scan done after the chemo showed significant reduction of tumor

and then the doc suddenly decided thats that for the chemo. i still remember the consultation that day when that doc said that continuing chemo wud do this and do that.... the worst part was that he did not want to continue with it even though we said we wud accept the risks... infact he suggested that i can take my dad home and basically await death and that he had done all that he cud

we then sought out this one more guy who suggested surgery, he was not able to do much with the surgery except create a bypass for the stomach which he said may come in useful incase the tumor advanced again...

4 months after surgery, my dad died, he never recovered from surgery and went on from one complication to the other

i really wanted to sue this oncologist who stopped chemo, but my mom does not believe in suing doctors and we let it pass

i think the bottomline is... in advanced cancers, dont let them operate unless there is a very clear indication for it, there r lots of doctors out there who wud operate experimentally or to see how much they can remove... i think they r mainly looking at our wallets rather than the patient

dont go for surgery, stick to chemo as far as possible

grasslandgirl · New User Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 5

[quote="drvk"]to the above user

i think u r really lucky to have had a brave doctor... my dad died of stomach ca a few months ago.
he was diagnosed with stg4 inoperable stomach ca he had 6 cycles of chemo with 5fu and etoposide and was responding very well to it without any side effect and the PET scan done after the chemo showed significant reduction of tumor

and then the doc suddenly decided thats that for the chemo. i still remember the consultation that day when that doc said that continuing chemo wud do this and do that.... the worst part was that he did not want to continue with it even though we said we wud accept the risks... infact he suggested that i can take my dad home and basically await death and that he had done all that he cud

we then sought out this one more guy who suggested surgery, he was not able to do much with the surgery except create a bypass for the stomach which he said may come in useful incase the tumor advanced again...

4 months after surgery, my dad died, he never recovered from surgery and went on from one complication to the other

i really wanted to sue this oncologist who stopped chemo, but my mom does not believe in suing doctors and we let it pass

i think the bottomline is... in advanced cancers, dont let them operate unless there is a very clear indication for it, there r lots of doctors out there who wud operate experimentally or to see how much they can remove... i think they r mainly looking at our wallets rather than the patient

dont go for surgery, stick to chemo as far as possible[/quote]

thanks for the advice. my father will not go to operation desk under the killing knife....praying
_________________
Sunshine to everyone!Praying for my father...

brainman

Hi grasslandgirl,

drvk's father had am extremely advanced cancer. You do not know the stage of your father's cancer. Although many people do have life-long complications after stomach cancer surgery, many live long lives. Do not base a decision on the advice of one person's story. Consult with your father's medical team, learn all you can about this cancer, and then make an informed decision.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

obs · Regular Joined: 10 Aug 2007 Posts: 28

mattshir i am from chicago also, my dad has metastatic cancer which had spread to his bones, the doctor is saying it is most likely stomach cancer, he must get a biopsy to confirm. if you ever want to talk i am here let me know. i would also appreciate talking with someone with some real life experience with this.

CancerGenius · Regular Joined: 11 Nov 2007 Posts: 14

you're doing the right thing by getting all this information on your own.

so many times the oncologists are not as savvy as the people on this board.

for instance, at least 4 oncologists i've spoken to don't have a clue what Vitamin C IV injection is.

i'm not faulting them, but any professional worth his salt, should know everything possible about his line of work.

the best thing to do is keep trolling every search engine and go on as many message boards and you will find answers eventually.

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