Help Selecting Treatment For Stage 3 Duodenal Cancer

My brother in law just got diagnosed with stage 3  duodenal cancer in December.  He is 44. He had a whipple in January and an infection post op which put him on 3 weeks of antibiotics at home through a Picc line.  He just stated chemo this week and is already having a tough time with the nausea and vomiting.  I agree there is so little information out there becasue it is so rare. So any feed back you can give would be helpful.

Audrey

we have found a very good website with people dealing with duodenal cancer it is in yahoo groups

duodenalcancer@yahoogroups.com

it has been very helpful to share our experiences on this group with people dealing with this rare disease

good luck

Hello All,

 My mom was diagnosed with Duodenal Cancer in January of this year.  They attempted the Whipple but once they opened her up they realized that one of her lymph nodes in her major artery to her heart had been replaced by the tumor and it was too dangerous to proceed.  We finally spoke to an oncologist yesterday she will begin weekly chemo treatments in the next 2 weeks in hopes to shrink the tumor and ease her pain.  It's tough to see the person who holds you together become weak.

 I have also been having a hard time finding any information on Duodenal Cancer but I noticed that the Mayo Clinic refers to it as Small Bowel Cancer.  There is a little more information if you do that search.  I wish you all the best with your loved ones.

hi

i'm completely new to this site, but have been reading your messages after i found the site through a google search. my cousin has been diagnosed with small bowel cancer and sounds very similar to what you are describing. sorry for sounded silly, but can you please explain what a whipple is. my cousin is only 25 years of age, and had complained of stomach pains for almost a year and began losing weight rapidly for 6 months when the docs finally decided on a barium test (a 2nd one, as the first was clear). he underwent surgery almost within days of being diagnosed, but they could not remove the tumour as it was at the head of the duodenum, thus too near the stomach, and although i have not read his medical records i suspect they had moved to his lymph nodes. they somehow bypassed the tumour, and closed him up again, i dont think they gave him much info as he was back on solid food very quickly (my aunt had colon cancer and i had some idea of what patient should consume after such surgery).

he's in a very bad way at the moment, he had 6 weeks of chemo after the surgery, with quite severe side effects, and at the moment he's continuously losing weight. is there a specific drug used in chemo for duodenal adenocarcinoma that might help.... although i know every cancer is different, i feel incredibly helpless as i am in a different country to him, and he never bothers us unless its an emergency and for them to contact me i know he's desperate. if possible please can you explain the whipple thing, and also what chemo u underwent. were there any food items advised. any advice will be much appreciated.

 thanx shahin