On 4/12/2008 maryvolpec wrote:
My husband was diagnosed with gastric cancer in January that had already spread to his liver. The dr. could not operate since it had spread. The Pet scan was done end of January. Had another Pet scan last week, tumor in stomach shrunk, however it spread to pancreas, bones, spine, and chest. He has had several dr. opinions. He has been on chemo to shrink tumor and now dr. is starting new chemo for bones. He is on heavy pain medication and I feel the disease is spreading fast. Any opinions/Help? thanks
Mary:
My only advice is to check out the chemo he is on and think about changing the drugs they are using. If he did not show all that active cancer in the Jan 08 scan and now it is showing up; we have to think that the chemo drugs selected are not hitting hit hard/fast enough. My wife had Stage IV but we think we caught it early and she is in remission post chemo. She orginally was on ECF which includes Epirubicin, Cisplatin, and 5FU. Others have used Taxore, Oxaliplatin, and Capecitabine (Xeloda). Not sure what your husband is on but I would think about changing it up. I am sorry to hear that it has spread to so many locations. I would be thankful that I did not go through the surgery since he is stronger right now and able to hopefully take a full dose of some of the chemo regimens. Keep the faith, if it is shrinking the tumor MAYBE it is working and the chemo just hasnt reached all those areas yet. Keep up the fight and just discuss alternatives with you oncologist.
Steve
Hartford, CT