father's illness

 My father was diagnosed in May.  He has really went downhill from there.  He chose to not do chemo but supplements his diet with nutrients.  He is on  strong pain management and that has helped but he doesn't feel well enough to do much.  Sometimes when he is feeling better he walks around in the yard.  He has terrible gas and indigestion and has lost 5 pounds this week.  Should all this happen so quickly? 

  Vicki 

 

On 7/26/2007 Vicks-heart wrote:

 My father was diagnosed in May.  He has really went downhill from there.  He chose to not do chemo but supplements his diet with nutrients.  He is on  strong pain management and that has helped but he doesn't feel well enough to do much.  Sometimes when he is feeling better he walks around in the yard.  He has terrible gas and indigestion and has lost 5 pounds this week.  Should all this happen so quickly? 

  Vicki 

Vicki,

What type of cancer does your dad have? My mom battled unknown primary cancer for almost 4 years. She started going downhill with being tired alot in January of this year. March was her worse month. She was still taking treatments but ended up in the hospital April 1st and we found out that her cancer had gotten worse. She came home with hospice care and lost her battle 3 weeks later. Even though she lasted almost 4 years from her original diagnosis it all seemed to happen so quickly when she started failing. My prayers are with you and your dad and family.

Rachel

Vicki,

   I'm sorry to hear about your father's diagnosis.  My father, who turns 50 on August 10th, has very recently been diagnose with pancreatic can cer as well.  In his case, he suffered from chronic pancreatitis which seems to have turned into pancreatic cancer of the course of the oast 6 years.  Nonetheless, i can tell you that over the course of a 1 year period, sometime berwwen pancreatitis and cancer, my father lost 40 pounds.  I am not sure if this helps at all, but in reading the posting about your dad, the weight loss came as no suprise to me.  Upper abdominal pain and eight loss two early onsetting symptoms of pancreatic cancer.  Ever since my dad was diagnose i've been doing a lot of research.  How is your dad managing to cope with the diagnosis?

So sorry for you dad's diagnosis.  This is the pits for everyone.  Mom diagnosed in March 06, whipple in April, 06.  She's still fighting, has gone thru lots of chemo-radiation.  The gas and GI problems are very common. Talk to you doc about meds for this........this is a difficult disease to fight, but my mom has made it almost 16 months!!  Good luck and God Bless You.

 

On 7/26/2007 Gbr44 wrote:

So sorry for you dad's diagnosis.  This is the pits for everyone.  Mom diagnosed in March 06, whipple in April, 06.  She's still fighting, has gone thru lots of chemo-radiation.  The gas and GI problems are very common. Talk to you doc about meds for this........this is a difficult disease to fight, but my mom has made it almost 16 months!!  Good luck and God Bless You.

 What was prescribed for your mom for the gas and GI problems?  Maybe we could ask the Dr. for the same.

 

 

On 7/26/2007 Vicks-heart wrote:

 My father was diagnosed in May.  He has really went downhill from there.  He chose to not do chemo but supplements his diet with nutrients.  He is on  strong pain management and that has helped but he doesn't feel well enough to do much.  Sometimes when he is feeling better he walks around in the yard.  He has terrible gas and indigestion and has lost 5 pounds this week.  Should all this happen so quickly? 

  Vicki 

Hello, Was your dad diagnosed with rectal cancer May 07?  Do you know how many lymph nodes involved and what stage was his?  My dad was dx in Feb. 2006.  He had surgery, chemo and radiation.  He finished all in Dec. 06.  He is doing good.  Just waiting on scan reports.  He had 13 lymph nodes involved and had already eaten through rectal wall. 

Cynthia

 

 

On 7/27/2007 Vicks-heart wrote:

 

On 7/26/2007 Gbr44 wrote:

So sorry for you dad's diagnosis.  This is the pits for everyone.  Mom diagnosed in March 06, whipple in April, 06.  She's still fighting, has gone thru lots of chemo-radiation.  The gas and GI problems are very common. Talk to you doc about meds for this........this is a difficult disease to fight, but my mom has made it almost 16 months!!  Good luck and God Bless You.

 What was prescribed for your mom for the gas and GI problems?  Maybe we could ask the Dr. for the same.

 

Your dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic, correct?  My mom was diagnosed in March 06, had whipple shortly thereafter.  As a result of whipple, she was put on enzymes due to pancreas not functioning.  We've had to really experiment with enzymes until we found regime that worked.  She takes 2 before meals.....also takes Beano for the gas.  I believe just recently she was prescribed more meds for digestion, not sure what she got.  I'm going home next week to accompany her to oncologist appt.  She will be starting new chemo soon.  The gas and tummy problems are really awful with this disease.  Hard to eat anything.

Try to get as much info from doctor as you can....good luck.

 

 

On 7/27/2007 Gbr44 wrote:

 

On 7/27/2007 Vicks-heart wrote:

 

On 7/26/2007 Gbr44 wrote:

So sorry for you dad's diagnosis.  This is the pits for everyone.  Mom diagnosed in March 06, whipple in April, 06.  She's still fighting, has gone thru lots of chemo-radiation.  The gas and GI problems are very common. Talk to you doc about meds for this........this is a difficult disease to fight, but my mom has made it almost 16 months!!  Good luck and God Bless You.

 What was prescribed for your mom for the gas and GI problems?  Maybe we could ask the Dr. for the same.

 

Your dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic, correct?  My mom was diagnosed in March 06, had whipple shortly thereafter.  As a result of whipple, she was put on enzymes due to pancreas not functioning.  We've had to really experiment with enzymes until we found regime that worked.  She takes 2 before meals.....also takes Beano for the gas.  I believe just recently she was prescribed more meds for digestion, not sure what she got.  I'm going home next week to accompany her to oncologist appt.  She will be starting new chemo soon.  The gas and tummy problems are really awful with this disease.  Hard to eat anything.

Try to get as much info from doctor as you can....good luck.

 

  Your mom is having to do chemo again?  

 

Sorry to hear about your father. My father was diagnosed in June 2006. He has been through chemo and radiation. he was in stage 4 when we found out. After going through all of that we thought the cancer was gone in Jan 2007. It came back in April very strong and he went back on the same chemo and it is not working. within 2 weeks his CA19-9 went from 6172 to 9940. I have learned a lot about Pancreatic Cancer this past year. This type of cancer is very aggressive and  Painfull. Things happen very fast. If he does not want to do chemo make sure he is very comfortable and in no pain. My father is starting to have the pain again. He is taking part in a clinical trial at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa Florida. We drive 2 hours to take him there. We don't have very many options here. The only other thing to do is take him to OK to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Take Care