Good News!!

Most of you know my father's situation.  For the people that don't, here's some cliff notes:

*  He was diagnosed in July 2007 with Stomach Cancer

*  They performed surgery to remove most of the tumor (and 70% of his stomach)  They also removed a bunch of lympnodes in the area that were effected.

*  Pathology report showed that the cancer was very aggresive, so he started chemo (5FU, Taxotere, and Cisplatinum)

*  After 3 treatments, his first CAT scan came up clean...no new growths

He just completed his 6th (final) round of chemo.  He went in for a CAT/PET scan.  Both came up clean with no evidence of cancer.  The Oncologist was surprised since this was an aggresive type of cancer.  Now we just pray to god that it doesn't come back soon. 

The Oncologist also said that my father might be diabetic now as a result of the chemo.  The aggresive treatments may have caused damage to his pancreas...which might not have the ability to produce natural insulins.  His sugar levels were pretty high so they had to give him some insulin shots.  We have to wait for the chemo smoke to clear first though before we jump to any conclusions.  As it sits now they told him he could eat anything he wants.

So yes, there is hope.  Be positive! 

 

~Mike

mike

wow! fantastic news! i am so happy for you, your father & your family. i can only hope that the rest of us will be able to report news such as this in the near future. sometimes it is hard...but you're right... NEVER GIVE UP! this will be my mantra for 2008. thanks for sharing. kris

Thanks Kris.  This is a start to a fantastic New Years for us.  My father also had his first granddaughter born on the same day!  So two good pieces of news =)

I really think the surgery helped him a lot.  Cancer is so difficult to fight when you can't get some sort of head start.

double wow!!! this is not good news. this is great news. what a double blessing. your dad is kicking this ugly monsters a** and has also had his 1st grandchild born. prayers have been answered 10 fold, i'd have to say. may you all be blessed with the best year ever.

i too think that a jump start to helping treat the cancer is surgery. i am forever thankful that my dad was able to have his surgery to eliminate the original tumour. i think it has made all the difference in the world. i hope that i can continue to report good news on my end.

cheers to you & your family! what a happy new year you have had already! peace, kris

hello im glad ur dad is doing so good . i just had surgery done and they also took 70% percent of my stomach i was stage 3 what was ur dad? i had surgery 12/27/08 would u be able 2 tell me if eating gets easier with time i eat pretty good but sometimes i have trouble. i have 2 do chemo in about a month what can i expect when i start chemo?

To the patient who had 70% stomach removed. My popa also had the same amount of stomach removed and stage 3. Did the docs insert a j-tube? Also eating does get easier takes a while getting used to the smaller amounts and stuff but you will get used to it. You may feel like you cannot swallow food at some point if you do its possible that the esophagus narrowed, this is relieved by a series of 'balloon' procedures to open it back up. This happened to my grandfather, but it dosent happen to everyone. My grandfather prefers soups cakes tea biscuits and sweet treats like that because they are easy to get down. Hope this has helped.