Stomach Cancer Prognosis

Question: Surgical Biliary Bypass - Pancreatic Cancer - Prognosis? My grandfather was diagnosed today with pancreatic cancer. They are going to complete a surgical biliary bypass, which means create a secondary "tube" between his stomach and intestines. I know pancreatic cancer does not have a good prognosis, can anyone tell me if they know of anyone who had this procedure done, and how long they lived after? I am looking for educated, well-intentioned answers. This is a very difficult time for my family and I am not looking for additional gloom and doom...simply straight and honest answers. Thank you!

Answer: If they are bypassing the malignancy, it must be unresectable. About 90% of pancreatic cancers are not localized enough to be removed. Statistics from http://www.cancersupportivecare.com/pancreas.html Locally advanced/unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma - - 8-9 months Metastatic (evidence of spread to distant organs such as liver or lungs) - - 4-6 months These statistics fit with my experience over 20 years as a cancer specialist doctor, but these averages will NOT tell you what your grandfather's outcome will be. I saw many people with this disease. Every person is special. Some people do much better than the statistics suggest.

Question: dad has stomach cancer he now weighs 6 stones chemo stopped how will he die? he is 79 was very fit been not well for adout a year took ages to get diagnosed in december too advanced for surgery started chemo in feb stopped 2 months ago because it was making him weak. now very frail keeps falling wants to stay at home isnt aware of & doesnt want to know prognosis weight loss is alarming but not surprising as he can barely eat how much longer can he survive?

Answer: Medically, a person can only survive about seven days without food & water but I have seen them survive much longer. (I am an RN/retired). Only God & your father will determine the length of survival. I have lost two parents & a sister to cancer. I'm sorry for what you are going through.

Question: pancreatic cancer prognosis? My step mother was diagnosed in Feb of 2007 and has had some chemo that has been switched to a pill form. She is having sharp pains now and has a huge stomach which they have to drain the fluids. I would like to know if these are signs of it advancing? she is secret about what the doctors say.

Answer: Pancreatic cancer is terrible there is a 5% (5 year surivaval rate) The only treatment is what is called a "whipple's procedure" her doctor is an idiot if he think that chemo is going to stop pancreatic cancer! The pancreas will not be affected by the chemo because of most of the uptake will not make it to the panc. If your mom truly does have pancreatic cancer make sure she gets to a doctor that will actually do something about it. I would highly recommend she get a CT scan with contrast done ASAP if she has not had one in the past few months. I'm sorry about your mom, I hope she can open up and talk to you about her condition.

Question: Brother has stage IV liver, stomach, esophogus cancer.? Just diagnosed. Also affecting lymph nodes. He will be starting aggressive chemotherapy this week, 6-8 hr treatments once a week for 24 weeks plus daily radiation treatments. What is his prognosis?

Answer: Sorry ot hear about your brother. When I was 12 my oldest brother was diagnosed with Testicular cancer, he was given 6 weeks to live. He is alive and well today. He went through alot of chemo, and ended having 2 big tumors removed surgically because the scar tissue would not allow any chemo to work. He had cancer around his liver, lungs, and lymph nodes as well. My best advice is to be there for him, have him change his diet and give him cancer fighting foods such as broccoli and what not. My brother swears that stuff helped him out with his cancer. Another very important thing is to make sure he keeps a positive outlook on his condition, as grim as it may seem, he needs to fight everyday harder than he has ever done before in his life. And PRAY!!! Alot and as often as possible.

Question: Grandpa has cancer - 4-10 months to live - what should I do? My grandpa was recently diagnosed with advanced stomach/liver cancer, with a prognosis of 4-10 months to live. I just feel at a loss right now. What should I do?

Answer: well you never know if he's going to survive. think positive. but start by beginning to accept the fact that he does have cancer and might pass away. and spend every single moment with him.

Question: anybody know about stomach cancers ? ive just heard that a very good friend of mine has been diagnosed with stomach cancer , i have not spoken to him as i dont see him around but the word is his tumor is 21cm ! surely this must be wrong or does this mean the cancer is not treatable ? ive also heard he is gonna have treatment and im worried sick as i cant seem to find any info out about sizes of tumors and i just need to know what his prognosis may be ! does anyone have any info they can share ? thanks

Answer: In general stomach cancers do not have a very good prognosis. About 18% are long term survivors.

Question: peple I need serious answers please. If a women is daignosed with ovarin cancer and is in the last stages? and she gets irregular periods and cramping in her stomach etc how long does that person have? What is the prognoses? I need to know this, and any advise would be appreciated.

Answer: It is impossible to tell you how long the person will have - as the it depends on very many factors. The information given is not sufficient and the Oncologist who is attending the patient may be in a position to advise further. It depends on the stage of the disease, treatments given so far and the general condition of the patient etc. etc. If she is in the initial stage of the disease - stage I and II and the treatments viz surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are given the patient may recover and live for some more years. It the disease is in advanced stages (Stage III and IV) the position may be alarming but we may overcome it by giving proper treatment and it depends how the patient take it and respond to it. So do not think about the last stages and end and do your best to treat her fully since we can not say anything as CANCER IS STILL AN ENIGMA. Best of luck for the patient.-

Question: Anyone have a good outcome with esophogeal cancer? My father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last June. The prognosis wasn't good. It was stage IV and the cancer has spread into his lymphatic system, stomach, a spot on his lungs and depending on who you talk to into his bones. He has undergone 9 intense chemo treatments and not seen much progress. He has been in a lot of pain through most of the treatments. His oncologist is being very aggressive and will not really say what the intended outcome of his treatment plan is. My Dad's GP is recommending we look into hospice. We can't seem to get any consistent information to make any decisions. My parents are in denial and are just doing whatever the doctors tell them to do even if the oncologist and GP treatment plans are in direct opposition. Any advice?

Answer: I'm sorry to hear that. It's not unusual for different doctors to have different opinions on a patient. If you'd like to understand why they have different opinions, you can check out http://www.cancerdoubts.com It explains the issues faced in treating cancer, and also explains how patients and relatives can help understand and decide on treatment options. But I'd suggest bringing this up with your parents gently. They could just be at a complete loss / shell-shocked, and just want to follow the doctor's "authoritative opinion". Sometimes when faced with life-and-death uncertainty, people just want a "guiding authority" to follow.

Question: Information on MALT lymphoma in the stomach? Information on MALT lymphoma in stomach? My father has just been diagnosed with this type of cancer. I do not have a stage for it yet but I know he did have H. Pylori infection and was treated. I am going with him to his Oncology appt. so I can see what they say. I am a nurse with a short oncology background so I can understand medical terminology in your answers. I know it is rare and the prognosis is good. I want to hear anything you know about it. Personal accounts and treatment options.. etcetc

Answer: You may try this remedy.Take two shoots of ALOEVERA.mince it in to fine particles.Add honey to fill it to full,add small quantity (As a preservative) of pure alcohol/brandy stirr well to form the mixture to some what a paste.Keep this in your fridge and take a full table spoon in morning in bare stomach and in night at bed time.Use for ten days and a break of 3 days,then use it for ten days and a break of 3 days.Treatment is to be continued totally for 40 days.I am sure great relief and most probably a cure will be the out come of this treatment.Please also be aware of the fact that in some persons a slight allergy(Vomiting) may be present and if so give a break for two days and then continue.This herbal mixture is very effective against allmost all types of cancer;especially that of stomach.

Question: Do I have cancer/leukemia? I am female, 16 years of age, with muscle pain, sickness, and malaise. My muscle pain includes a sort of heaviness, tenderness, pressure, achiness around my chest (mainly left side), arms, and shoulders (mainly left shoulder). I have been to the ER, through which urine samples, an EKG, bloodwork (they took three viles), and chest X-rays have been determined as normal, although the blood count was a slight bit high in white cells, but I went to my family doctor the day after Emergency, and had another blood test, which was normal. I have some coughing, with occasional phlegm (but it is almost always a dry cough) and some throat problems which make swallowing a little difficult, and discourage me from eating sometimes, and previously, from drinking much as well, as it is strange, and feels like nothing wants to go down my throat, but this is not stomach-related. There is occasionally stomach upset, which feels like an eruption and I must hastily proceed to my bathroom, and my stool is cloudy when passed and is extremely soft, crumbly, yet is not exactly diarrhea and does not hurt my anal region as diarrhea would, and the painful desire to expel my bowels does not return after it is passed. There is also a fever. I am not certain of how to check for swollen lymph nodes, and a doctor never checked for them. I originally thought I was having cardiac problems. These symptoms I am experiencing interfere with my quality of living. I have had breathing difficulties (in which I have had to breathe heavy) and chest pressure, and there was simply nothing determined to be wrong with me. My muscles in my shoulders have a lot of pressure and pain, that I just wish could lift off of me. I sometimes have a very weird feeling in my chest which cannot be localized (but it doesn't seem to be my lungs) and I feel I must lie in bed, and I suffer tremendously. This weird feeling makes me experience the need to cough. I am very weak, sometimes fatigued, and a little dizzy. There can occasionally be pain in my legs as well, and sometimes pressure on the upper left side of my stomach. Is this my spleen, or just my stomach? My pains are NOT sharp. My stomach rumbles and my throat gurgles often. I have had a headache, and generally just don't feel right. I have gone to my family doctor as well, and again, there was nothing perceivably wrong with me. I am profoundly unnerved when they dismiss me, hoping my age or gender is not a factor. This is certainly NOT stress, although I have been sent home, with medical professionals claiming it was probably stress. The only stress I have is caused by these unbearable symptoms and the uncertainty of my medical condition. Often, a symptom predominates all others. I was a bit dehydrated when I went to Emergency, but all they told me was to increase fluid intake. I have an irregular heartbeat, but this runs in my family and I've had it since birth. I don't know how much more I can take. This condition went away for about a week (or at least the symptoms were not present), and has returned once again. Is it serious, and what am I supposed to do? This condition is seriously destroying my life. I fall asleep with these symptoms, and even have them upon waking, although previously they were more intermittent. I am young and I just want to live! I am tired of fighting this alone. I just wish I could be diagnosed with something (non-serious, of course) just to put my mind at ease, and so my symptoms could be alleviated with medication and the disorder itself would no longer be there to interfere with my quality of living, because there is definitely something wrong. I want peace of mind, and I sincerely want my health to return to its optimal condition. I am fearful of simply being dismissed with nothing, because I just can't endure having to live like this and do not want to fight it on my own any longer, not even knowing what it is. I have a terrible fear of death. I just want to live normally, without health concerns. Please sympathize and help me, or else I just won't know what to do. This is the scariest thing I have ever had to face, and I just want to be completely cured. Please, are there any suggestions as to what this could be, and do you think it's serious, like leukemia? This is not asthma or pneumonia or stress. I was given Z-pack antibiotics for the possibility of infection by the Redicare clinic where I live. I vomited and had pouring, intense diarrhea, which was all over my clothes, the bed, and the floor. I do not think that this was due to my illness, but I drank water to clear it up. I never had these symptoms with my condition before, so the doctor told me to quit taking the medication. These are supposedly the side effects for some people, and not due to an overdose. I need a CAT scan and echocardiogram ordered by my family doctor on Tuesday. So I have a question for you: if I have already had blood work, an EKG, a urine sample, and chest X-rays, which were negative for any sort of condition, would the CAT scan and echocardiogram detect EVERYTHING? I will address leukemia with my family doctor, and maybe she will want more tests done. Do you think it's leukemia? I have gone almost a month without treatment for it, and the condition is still here, and I am scared on behalf of my prolonged lack of treatment. Will I survive, go into remission, without the possibility of recurrence or is my prognosis most likely to be poor, assuming I have leukemia? Please provide helpful and very knowledgable responses.

Answer: I'm confused you have had leukemia before and now it's in remission? If they took blood chemistry VERY RECENTLY and there's nothing wrong then you probably did not relapse. How long were the symptoms? Recently? Ongoing since your last treatment? You will need to ask your doctor, only he/she can address your concerns.

Question: On Dec 18, My Dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor in his cerebellum, (larger than a golf ball), He had a? craniotomy on Dec. 26, The tumor showed to be lung cancer that has spread to his brain. He has tumors in both lungs, 1 adrenal gland, and possibly his stomach,(he is having a pet scan on Monday). The doctors will not give us a prognosis. Please help me understand how long he may possibly have to live. Thank you

Answer: What does the tumor pathology report state for the brain tumor? Each brain tumor type can have very different prognoses. Life - how long? That's a very good question. Live every day as though might be his last and you can not go wrong. That is healthy advice for all of us - to live every day as though it could be our last. What would we be doing differently if we knew that we only had a day left to live? Have you listened to the music of David Bailey? David was diagnosed with a grade IV GBM (very nasty brain tumor type) and given less than 6 months to live by the doctors. That was 11 years ago. He quit his job and started singing and continues to this day! Tomorrow is not promised! Carpe diem - Seize the day! With kind and gentle regards, David Edge Founder Yahoo parental support group Pediatric Brain Tumors http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Pediatricbraintumors/ and father of a daughter diagnosed in June 98 when she was 12, with a golf ball sized brain tumor in her cerebellum. It was a grade IV cancer called Medulloblastoma . She will be celebrating her 22nd birthday this month!

Question: Rimadyl, and a fluid filled abdomen in my beautiful Shy ( a wolf\malamute\husky\akita mix)? My Shy, about a month ago I thought she seemed stiff, I had been giving her an aspirin for her arthritis. She has arthritis which was aggravated by a couple of rounds with Lyme's. The first of which had her very ill, we thought she would not survive the damage to her kidney's. Anyway, so this drug, I called the vet and explained her symptoms and being a farm vet they said, we'll try Rimadyl, put her on deoxycycline in case she is having a recurrence of Lyme's and we'll see what happens. She stopped eating dog food, I thought, antibiotic induced stomach irritation, she seemed to move around a bit better. So we kept it up. I was getting the pills singularly in a baggie from the vet 20or 30 dollars worth at a time, so there was no insert with them to read. her prescription was 175 mgs at 4.75 a day. This was high dose for her weight come to find out. 77lbs Anyway so Thursday I take her in for labored breath. she is filling with a viscous protein laden fluid,and the prognosis is make her comfortable until the end. So I get home and pick up my kids and my brilliant 7 yr old son says after hearing this, does that mean her kidneys are not working? Which had briefly occurred to me but I blew past it assuming she has cancer all over and this is par for the course. She got put on prdenasone for the pain Friday and she has proceeded to seem improved over the past 24 hours. (of course this is relevent as the steroid will reduce some swelling) So on the phone with mys sis yesterday talking about her medical symptoms she asked what drug she was on before and then asked what the insert said. Well so I looked , Mike had purchased a bottle last week and it was the first time I thought to look. A hundred dollars worth of these dang pills. And the first thing listed under the warning is renal failure. Given the history of kidney damage she probably should never have been on it. what I wondered is if you had heard of any other animals in your experience who had a similar experience. Also I am wondering if it is at all possible she suffered from the drug alone and not cancer at all? As there were no tests run to confirm that diagnosis. Sorry, I will clarify a couple of things ($)4.75 was the cost of the pills per day. 175 mg was the dose. My vet does know of the history, however I have switched vets, as I am much more impressed with one suggested to me. The reason for switching was my vet has a small animal vet on hand only on Wednesdays and this has proven inconvenient now. Before when things were routine it did not seem to outweigh the ease of access as everywhere else involves some travel for us as we are very rural here.

Answer: Did the vet know of her history of kidney damage? Had he run blood tests prior to prescribing the rimadyl on her? These are things to make sure of. Most vets i know of are aware of the risk of renal failure with rimadyl and will not prescribe it with out blood test first as per protocol for prescribing that particular drug. I am not sure i completely understand you dosage on the Doxy. What she taking 4.75 pills of 175 mgs a day? That would be 700 mgs a day. I have a 50 pound dog who is taking 150 mgs a day. 700 mgs a day is entirely too much.

Question: Do you also feel grateful for benefits? In the case of Social Security Disability benefits, at age 40 I began receiving them, with a prognosis of five years. That was twenty-one years ago, and my recertification reviews have proven the permanence of the disability. I've received the annual cost-of-living increases every year. The cause was having survived pancreatic cancer, causing the necessity of a completely customized interior, involving the loss and rearrangment of several organs, one of which, the stomach, no longer performs its function, indeed permanent, and requiring digestive enzymes, in addition to problems developed since. I can tell you the gratitude I feel for living in a country where such programs are in place for such rare events as this, and the degree to which I empathize with others whose disabilities aren't apparent. I'm sure Disability prognosed as five years was considered fair, and my survival beyond was a financial shock.

Answer: Its nice to hear someone say something good about our country...when most these days what to tear it down....and also nice that your alright with the benefits your receiving,,,most the time the disabled complain and always what more from our government... We always can't depend on our government to take care of us..We have to do whatever we can do for ourselves.... Yes like you I am grateful for the benefits,,and will never complain that I am not getting enough...

Question: Should we bother with surgery for for our dog? Long story short, Nikki, our 6yo Siberian Husky, has relatively suddenly developed complications due to a recently-discovered mass in her lung. We thought she was just sick with the stomach flu and/or an upper respiratory infection, but she is having problems related to this large unknown mass. It has lead to other complications, including a megaesophagus and an inability to blink her eyes on her own. The doctors are also trying to rule out myasthenia gravis which could also be caused from this mass. The doctor is pretty sure the mass is malignant. He keeps changing his story on us about the prognosis but originally said that with surgery and chemo, Nikki would be able to have another year or two of a healthy, happy life. In other words, tumors might not be completely gone, but she will be fine until the day she no longer is. We opted to go forward with the biopsy, but as we wait for the results, things have changed with his story. We figured we'd do the feeding tube as long as she is back to normal with it. We will not keep her alive if she is not going to be enjoying her life. Then today we got news that Nikki has developed a few nosebleeds, which is indicating that she is becoming irritated by all the regurgitating. She's still not eating. This makes the vet concerned about the potential success of a feeding tube. We still won't know the results of the biopsy until some time tomorrow. With this new news, it is unlikely that we will hear anything that will push us to continue with surgeries and other treatments, although we are not entirely ruling it out. We do not want to spend our entire nest egg (already very depleted) and we are not confident that we are going to get back a healthy, happy Nikki. While it is probably possible that we could have a Nikki come home alive who has trouble breathing, eats through a feeding tube, has cancer, and is only expected to live for another year before finally succumbing, we don't know that this is something we can do -- emotionally, financially, physically, or just plain 'ol realistically. We love this dog -- everyone does. But we also want to invest in our future and our future family. We want to do what is best for Nikki. It is looking like this means that we are going to have to let her go tomorrow. Does anyone have any positive hope for us? We have ruled out chemo for sure. I don't think it's fair to call into question how much we love our dog here. She is currently being treated by a specialist for the condition (the 4th vet to treat her since this started). The ultrasound did not show any additional masses anywhere in her body (that they could detect).

Answer: As you said, it is about quality of life. Obviously it would be difficult for you to feed her through a tube, take care of her eyes, and do all of the things you need to do to keep her going until she finally succumbs. But you sound willing to do it if it keeps her going. But would she be happy? Would she be the dog that she always has been? Would she be content to deal with the tube feeding, the dry eyes, the trouble breathing? Or would she be alive...but miserable? Honestly, I could not watch my formerly athletic, energetic, high-spirited dog live like this. *I* wouldn't want to live like that. She can't tell you how she wants to live. But if she is uncomfortable and unable to have a normal life, do you think she'd be happy? For one more year, or even for 3? I know this is not the positive hope you are looking for. But as someone who lost a Siberian at 7 years old to lymphosarcoma -- went through the chemo, went through the special diet, the depressed, skin-and-bones dog -- and then lost him when he was technically "in remission"...I have begun to think that we drag these things out for our own emotional reasons, rather than the dog's well-being. I know this is a tough decision. I'm sorry you have to make it.