Help!Friend diagnosed w/Stg4 pancreatic cancer, spread liver

thejonester55 · New User Joined: 10 May 2007 Posts: 1

Hi. I have a friend who was just diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and it has spread to her liver. She is 48 years old and started experiencing a little pain when she ate in Nov. 2006. In Jan. 07 she went to the Dr. and they kept focusing on the gastric bypass surgery that she had in Nov. 2004 thinking her pain was coming from that. They did a CT scan in Feb 2007 and the Radiologist noted a mass on the pancreas but the Dr. never read the note. He just focused again on the intestine and the stomach since she said her pain was in the abdomen and back when she ate and it was to the point she wouldnt eat at all b/c of the pain. Finally in March 2007 she found a new plastic surgeon who read her CT scan and noticed the note about the pancreas. He ordered another scan since more then a month had passed and saw a mass on the liver. He then had a biospy done at the end of April and diagnosed her with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. At the time the Oncologist gave her 2 months to live and said she could try a clinical trial and chemo to expand her life a little bit. When she went for her first chemo treatment 3 WEEKS LATER!! they said her liver enzymes were too high and she didnt qualify for the clinical trial and after 8 hours of waiting in line for chemo they gave her 30 minutes instead of an hour b/c she was so tired. The next week she went back for chemo again and they said her liver enzymes were even higher and she no longer qualified for chemo. They ordered her a CT scan and the tumor had grown on the pancreas and jaudice was setting in so they gave her a stint. Now she is admitted into the hospital and is afraid to leave. My question is this... her Oncologist is not compassionate at all. He is quite an jerk if you know what I mean. With your experience does it seem like they are doing everything they can to help her or are the Drs just giving up on her b/c it is too far progressed. She doesnt want us to bug the Dr's and she just wants us to let them do their jobs but we are not getting alot of info about her condition. They are speaking to her when we arent there and she is not sharing much of the info we dont think.. perhaps b/c she doesnt want us to worry.We arent sure! We just so badly want them to help her and we dont know if she is getting the help that she needs.

brainman

I wish I had a better answer for you. The doctors pretty much can control the information unless your mother gives them permission to talk to you. In other words, your mother will need to take the initiative. She can also name one or more of you as her healthcare surrogate and then her healthcare surrogate(s) can ask her doctors questions. Her doctors really should be giving her all the information she needs in order to make informed decisions about her own health.

I am also moving your message to the Pancreatic Cancer Forum. I noticed an identical message from you there so I know you realized that you posted your message to the wrong forum Very Happy

Good luck. Keep us informed.
_________________
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/

4VGA · Regular Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 13

[b]what hosptal was this[/b]

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