I was in two minds as to whether to post this message but think it may be of some help to those recently diagnosed with gastric cancer. My mum was diagnosed in May of 2005 with stomach cancer with liver metastases. Obviously surgery was not an option with such an advanced disease state.
We were told by the oncologist (who had all the empathy of a cold fish) that even with palliative treatment we could not expect her to last more than 12 months. Fortunately I was not at that consultation or I think I would have lost my temper!
Anyway, she started on chemotherapy in July of 2005 (a combination of epirubicin, cisplatin and 5FU) and had 2 'rounds' of chemo spread over several months. It's fair to say that the chemo completely floored her. She wasn't sick or felt particularly ill but was left very tired and frail, so much so that when she finally came home it took a good couple of weeks before she could walk unaided.
She was then followed up at 3 month intervals which showed that the chemo had made an impact on her liver mets but less so on the stomach. For whatever reason she has remained symptom free and only last Tuesday returned for her 6 month follow up. This involves a physical exam, bloods but no scan. The hospital's policy is not to scan unless there are active symptoms. Anyway, the point is it will be 4 years in May since her original diagnosis and she is still here, symptom free and just getting on with life.
She has developed Bowen's Disease (a pre-invasive cancer) in her lower leg but this is quite easily treatable and has an excellent prognosis. Whether it is related to the original stomach cancer i have no idea.
The reason i was unsure whether to post this is because i know there are many of you out there who are not faring so well and my information is of no comfort to you. But for those recently diagnosed, there is hope. yes, stomach cancer generally has a poor prognosis but it's important to remember that 5 year survival rates are derived from statistics from hundreds of thousands of people and can't possibly apply to each and every indicidual affected by this disease.
For the record my Mum is 78 years old and I am a medical student so have done quite a bit of research in this area since my Mum's original diagnosis. I wish everyone here who is experiencing this disease or is close to someone who is all the very best. I do believe the very aggressive chemotherapy my Mum received has been the reason for this positive long term outcome, I just hope it continues to last.