Mom Update - 1 Year Anniversary

Can not believe that it has been a year since mom's surgery.  Brief summary:  My mom (75 at the time of diagnosis) was diagnosed with stomach cancer Nov 06 after complaining about having a full fealing after eating.  After many tests it was determined she had State IV stomach.  She first started with 3 rounds of 5FU before she had her surgery.  In Mar 07 she had a gastrectomy to remove her entire stomach.  Several of the lymph nodes came back positive which required her to go through another round of 5FU.  After several long months of recovery and chemo my mom made the decision that she wanted to go back to her part time job in retail.  As of today she is still work.  She still has days where she has difficulty eating.  Certain foods just do not agree with her but the good news is that after her last CAT scan she is cancer FREE.  She will have another scan in 6 months and still sees her Oncologist every 3 months.  I just wanted to post some good news and to let everybody who is going through this or has a loved one going through this that there is HOPE. It's been a long year but with Faith and Hope you can all celebrate your journey.  It also helped that we had total trust in mom's doctors and believe that the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphlia saved her life.  We love you Dr Hoffman, he is the best.

I am so glad to hear that your mom is cancer free.  What a celebration!.  Please keep posting positive results - it means so much to all of us.

Diane

wow! that is such good news! what a journey you have been on w/ her. i am so happy to hear a good story come from such a tragic disease. it gives me hope for my dad! thank you and god bless! kris

Yes I too agree. Thank you for the positive post. In the beginning of my husband's journey in October of last year all I read was negative things and very short life spans, but now I feel as if my husband may actually have a few more years. I hear from a very good friend of mine who is also dealing with stage 3 kidney cancer that stage 3 and 4 are not curable, and so it scared me, but I guess all we can do is make the very best of our time and not take things for granted.

Congratulations on your mom's anniversary. I sure hope and pray that my husband and I can have such a celebration as well.

Please keep us posted
We love to read successess.

This is wonderful news about our mom's remission!

I too was diagnosed with stage IV stomach cancer in May of 2006. I was told at the time that I was not a candidate to have my stomach removed and that I had about a year to live. I had 6 treatments of Epirubisin, Cisplatin and Xeloda. Then a laporoscopy showed good tissue quality, so they went ahead and removed my entire stomach and my right adrenal gland (where it had spread). No lymph nodes were involved. I then had 5 weeks of radiation. The last CT scan is clean except for a small spot on my liver. We continue to watch it. On March 13, 2008 I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of my stomach removal surgery. I continue to believe that I am going to beat this cancer. Has had been a rough road, but I've never given in to it (although there were a few times I wanted to). I read Bernie Siegel's book, "Love, Medicine and Miracles" and it helped keep me focused.  God bless all of you battling cancer. Please try to stay positive and keep the faith. Miracles do happen and I am proof of that...

 Marlene

it is good to read some good news.I gives you streng to move forward and see the light at the end. My father 71 is going through this they removed 70% of the stomach and there still some that they couldnt remove they will do treatments and check if they are growing but we need to wait.I need your advice is it ok to hide things from your parents,we have not want to get them worry we are dealing with the financial because he doesnt have insurance and doesn't qualify for Medicaid .It is ok to hide things?