Responding To Chemo

To anyone who might be interested,

My dad was diaagnosed with GB cancer in July last year and was told there was no treatment for him because of the metastisis.  He gave up and almost died in Nov.  He started chemo with Gemzar and his tumors has shrunk to about 1/2 the size they were.  The time between having his abdomen tapped and drained is now 4 weeks and the amount is a 1/3 of what it had been. His liver is working again.  The main problem now is that he can't eat or drink much.  He is soooooooo tired of boost.  When he became confused and started falling - his doctor finally saw what we had been seeing and order TPN for dad.  Dad has a mediport in his chest and TPN is a high calorie, high protein and high lipids (fat) flluid that goes into the mediport.  He was so mal-nourished before and now he is mentally clearer than he has been in several weeks.  We are praying that his appetite returns soon and he doesn't require the TPN for a long time. It does increase the chance of infections and has to be given by an infusion pump but for now we still have dad.

Miracles happen every day and it's not always a cure that is the miracle.  God bless you.                  Charlotte

Charlotte -

Thanks for sharing.  My mom was diagnosed at Stage 4 and they basically gave her no time.  She managed with tubes and Chemo (Gemzar) and lived 8 months.  It was very hard on her but I kept asking her if she wanted to give up and she never did.  She basically had no appetitie but kept down soup for all those months.  She would still be here today but became ceptic, took a long break from the Chemo and the cancer spread.  Miracles do happen, she lated longer than expected but I think more can be done!  Don't give up!

Sherry