My Aunt Has Just Been Diagnosed With Stomach Cancer What Should We Expect?

Today my aunt was diagnosed with stomach cancer- she seems to be taking the news well whilst we are falling apart. She has had the symptoms for 2-3 years now without it being dignosed properly. Now it seems to be in the late stages as it has spread beyond her stomach and the doctor has said that its incurable and inoperable. We are waiting for a few more tests to be done and havnt been given any information about the future. 2 years ago my aunt nursed my uncle who had a brain tumour. Although it was painful for us to watch him deteriorare we were thankful that he seemed to have no knowledge of his illness and suffered no pain until the very last moments. My question is- will my aunt suffer terrible pain and, I know everyone is different, but generally what can we expect.  Thank you for your reply.

On 1/11/2008 wildstrawberry wrote:

Today my aunt was diagnosed with stomach cancer- she seems to be taking the news well whilst we are falling apart. She has had the symptoms for 2-3 years now without it being dignosed properly. Now it seems to be in the late stages as it has spread beyond her stomach and the doctor has said that its incurable and inoperable. We are waiting for a few more tests to be done and havnt been given any information about the future. 2 years ago my aunt nursed my uncle who had a brain tumour. Although it was painful for us to watch him deteriorare we were thankful that he seemed to have no knowledge of his illness and suffered no pain until the very last moments. My question is- will my aunt suffer terrible pain and, I know everyone is different, but generally what can we expect.  Thank you for your reply.

i am sorry for the news that you have been given about your aunt. it is so hard. my father is fighting this cancer too. he was dx'd in july and was able to have surgey to remove all of it from the stomach. but he too is in late stage (stage IV) as it has spread to his liver, colon and lymph system.

there is no way of knowing what will happen with your aunt. every patient is very different. but never give up. there are treatments that help so much. some have had treatment and then were able to have the surgery as tumors have shrunk. so stay strong. gather all the info you can and tell her to get 2nd, & 3rd opinions. md anderson in texas and sloan in new york are very good treatment facilities. but there are also many more that can treat with results. my dad is doing treatment at UW in madison, wi. he went to mayo and Univ of Chicago also for opinions. but all were the same. so he has stayed close to home. cancer treatment centers of america is also a place to seek out.

i wish you strength. stay strong and take care. kris

I am sorry to hear about your aunt, what a tough way to start the New Year.  Advice is to read and research all you can. 

My wife (43 years young) had Stage IV that was diagnosed in March 07.  It began as two small tumors one in her stomach and one in her liver (originally diagnosed as a ulcer but we demanded an endoscopy).  Her initial chemo consisted of ECF which stands for Epirubicin, Cisplatin, and 5FU which was delivered continously through a pump that she wore 24/7.  After four rounds of that treatment (3 weeks per round) her CT Scans came up with no identifiable cancer and the tumors were gone (this was around July 07).  This initial treatment was tough but she maintained a good attitude.  Currently, she remains on a preventive chemo treatment which began in Oct 07 of oxaliplatin and xeloda. In August and September we did another 2 rounds of ECF for good measure and took a few weeks off.  She remains in remission today.

We are thankful that we caught it early (even though it was stage IV, the two tumors were small 1-2cm).

My advice, get her on chemo quick!  I would be concerned that she waited this long and therefore may not be overly concerned about her health in general and will need alot of support and encouragement.  Keep her going, keep her motivated, she needs to want to beat it!  The option is NOT an acceptable one at this time.

Momwithkids

On 1/13/2008 momwithkids wrote:

I am sorry to hear about your aunt, what a tough way to start the New Year.  Advice is to read and research all you can. 

My wife (43 years young) had Stage IV that was diagnosed in March 07.  It began as two small tumors one in her stomach and one in her liver (originally diagnosed as a ulcer but we demanded an endoscopy).  Her initial chemo consisted of ECF which stands for Epirubicin, Cisplatin, and 5FU which was delivered continously through a pump that she wore 24/7.  After four rounds of that treatment (3 weeks per round) her CT Scans came up with no identifiable cancer and the tumors were gone (this was around July 07).  This initial treatment was tough but she maintained a good attitude.  Currently, she remains on a preventive chemo treatment which began in Oct 07 of oxaliplatin and xeloda. In August and September we did another 2 rounds of ECF for good measure and took a few weeks off.  She remains in remission today.

We are thankful that we caught it early (even though it was stage IV, the two tumors were small 1-2cm).

My advice, get her on chemo quick!  I would be concerned that she waited this long and therefore may not be overly concerned about her health in general and will need alot of support and encouragement.  Keep her going, keep her motivated, she needs to want to beat it!  The option is NOT an acceptable one at this time.

Momwithkids

Your wife didn't have any kind of surgery? 

No.  Originally when she was diagnosed, the stomach tumor was only through three of the five layers of the stomach wall; however, upon further testing we found another single tumor in her liver. 

 Our original plan was to do surgery to remove the tumors BUT an oncologist at Sloan (where we obtained a second opinion) was steadfast against a surgical intervention since it would cause a delay in receiving an aggressive chemo treatment.  Therefore, she did the ECF treatment. 

Surgery was again suggested by our oncologist post having 8 rounds of ECF and the classification that she was in remission.  However, based on second and third opinions we decided once again to continue on chemo again to ensure that we kept hitting any potential cancer cells floating around her body.

Now since she has been in remission for more than six months and due to their being no cancer that the scan can see; the question is what exactly would we be trying to surgery on.

 It is a tough and personal decision.  Most of the people on this site have gone the route of a surgical intervention and done well.  Our personal decision, based on multiple recommendations, has been to continue with chemo since this is our best chance to ensure all the cancer cells have been eliminated to the extent possible.

Good luck with your decision and my only advice is to research and obtain second and third opinions if necessary.