My Husband Has Stomach Cancer

My husband was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer--stage3B. He was operated on-removal of a 6.5cm circumferential tumor on the outside of his stomach, which perforated the stomach wall and invaded the lymph nodes, blood vessels and nerve tissue of the stomach. Whether it has metastasized or not has not yet been clinically assessed.
It is 2 months since his surgery and he had been scheduled for simultaneous radiation and chemo treatments. However, he has had difficulty eating because of severe acid reflux. Different medicines have been tried-but to no avail. Since he cannot eat enough to maintain his nutrition and strength, treatments cannot be started. A feeding tube has been suggested. However, just 1 day before the surgery to insert the tube, he changed his mind. Because of the residual cancer in his stomach, the feeding tube would have to be put into his small intestine and would be very narrow. This could cause problems of clogging and possible infection. Hearing all this he decided at his age(81) he just did not want this tube and further--no treatments either.
He can eat breakfast alright but 1 1/2 to 2 hrs later, the acid and nausea start and he can put little else in his stomach for the rest of the day. He has lost 40 lbs since the end of May and just the last 4 weeks has lost 8 lbs. I have tried just about everything to entice him to eat--but nothing works.From 184 he is down to 144. Thankfully he did have some extra weight on him.
He has been given several different medications which have not helped. We have finally decided to contact hospice and now are just praying that they can keep him comfortable and hopefully come up with a solution to his acid and nausea problems.
Has anyone had any similar problems or have any other suggestions as to what I can do or give him to make him more comfortable with eating. Im just watching him wasting away! Please help if you can. Thanks
Anard

my husband had leiomyo sarcoma of the stomach and went through 7 major surgeries to remove a 15 pound tumor, half of his stomach, spleen, part of his pancreas and colon. The doctor sent him home with little hope of him surviving this ordeal. He wieghed 213lbs and after surgery wieghed 130lbs. He was 67 at the time, he couldn't eat anything without vomiting and he was too weak to walk. He was fading fast, I put him on liquid vitamins (one a day) a drop at a time, until he could mangage a whole spoon. I kept him off of all dairy and dairy related products. He ate like a little bird, but the vitamins help him gain his strength. In one month he was walking and eating by himself. His digestive system could not tolerate dairy, gasey, spicey, fried or raw fruit. Everything had to be broiled, baked or boiled. He ate home made chicken both (skinless chicken, potatoes, little salt and carrots). I would boiled them all together and give him only the broth. I hope this helps, I wish you well, God Bless you both. The poet

Hello:

Try ginger tea for any naseau and take high doses of Vita C to stop the growth of the cancer cells. Also green tea tablets and pomergrante juice are great to get your strength back while kills the cancer cells. Pray, Pray look at John 11:4 for some answers.

To the poet:
Thank you for your reply. Your husband went through so much! My heart goes out to you. Were they able to stop the progress of the cancer. How is he doing now? We are still struggling with my husband's inability to eat--he gets a foul taste and cant enjoy any food--He is barely consuming 500 calories a day and is losing quite a bit of weight. We now have Hospice coming in trying to adjust his medication and make him more comfortable.
Thankyou for caring
anna

Dear Friend,

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Hope it helps
Teresa C.
Tuscanyintl

To the poet:
Thankyou for your very imformative response. My husband also eats like a bird. Im going to try the liquid vitamins you suggested. I've tried the broth as you made, however his main problem is a foul taste that takes over as soon as he puts anything into his mouth. One or two spoonfuls and he practically gags because of the foul taste. It seems as if all his taste buds are affected.
How is your husband now? Mine seems to get weaker and weaker each day. He's living on practically nothing. Im just watching him wasting away. Thankyou for your concern and God bless you and your husband.
Anard

Hi Anard,
I have found a product that has only been around since 2004 and have heard hundreds of testimonials supporting this product along with hundreds of scientific studies. The product comes in a 33.4 ounce bottle and is called Limu Moui. It is wonderful. It has cured my acid reflux and it has been found to have many,many cancer fighting abilities. Go to www.limumoui-mikeschu.com for information. Of course, always consult your doctor before trying anything new. Best wishes to you.

Anard,

The foul taste is probably from the bile that is backing up in his system. My friends father is fighting pancreatic cancer and had that problem. He wouln't eat a thing because of the taste. His doctors put a draining tube in his stomach so that the bile would drain out and he is now eating fine. There is also a supplement that you can buy at Whole foods to put in his drink called the ultimate meal. It is a little pricey but it has worked really well for her father. He is now gaining weight and getting around much better. In fact, I plan to start my husband on it tomorrow.

Good Luck.

Peace and blessings,
J

Hi Anard, My husband had a Whipple Procedure in July 2005, and they found a 3cm malignant tumor in his duodenum (adenocarcinoma). It is said to be curative surgery. Every since the surgery he has lost a lot of weight, 185 down to 140.

Just before the Christmas holidays he went to see his surgeon and they decided to keep him in the hospital because he had developed jaundice. They made him lift his tongue up so that they could look under it and sure enough it was yellow. They did a procedure to clean out the hepatic ducts and help them communicate. They inserted a bilary drain, that drains the bile into a bag. He was kept over the Christmas holidays but is home now. I drain the bile from the bag, but he does the flush.

He had been in the hospital the week before that for about 3 days with a blood infection.
He woke up in the middle of the night one night with chills and nothing that I could do seemed to help, until I put an electric blanket over him.


Apparently the bile backed up into his liver. It caused him a lot of stomach cramping or 'smasms' as the docs called it. My husband kept calling it contractions because they would peak and go down in intensity. The drainage has helped, but we don't know how long this drain will be in. He likes to be the one that flushes the line because he says he is afraid that I will push the saline soulution in to quick. The only problem is he will not fllush it when he should. The flushing keeps the line open and keeps it from clogging up. They are giving him Linezolid for the infection. Those are some expensive pills, $1500 for 22 pills. Luckily he has VA and they cover it. Has your husband had any problems like this?

He is home now but continually complains about the bad taste in his mouth. It went away briefly after about 3 weeks after surgery, but has the bad taste back. I have tried to feed him so many things. He takes Boost, and he will eat Won Ton soup, oatmeal, and sometimes Shrimp and Tapioca pudding. He says that there are certain things that he can actually taste that don't taste bad. He is not getting the nutrients that he needs. He was taking liquid vitamins before this liver thing happened. He has not been taking them lately. He takes Phenergan and seems to like that as it takes away the nausea and helps him sleep through pain. He sleeps most of the days away and the fact that our TV just broke isn't helping matters. I am going to try to find out if I can borrow one from someone.

I am having a hard time keeping up with the meals every two hours so he drinks Boost or a Protein drink. Doc's say that he might have to have another surgery to reconnect the bile ducts to another part of his intestine. I wasn't there and didn't hear that when they told him. I have a hard time getting any info. My husband did not want to know the prognosis and when I ask the docs, they are rather vague. The only thing that I have learned is that he had stage 3B and so far I haven't figured out what that means. Doc started to explain and I cut him off because we were so close to the hospital room door and I didn't want my husband to hear, since that is his wish not to know. The doctors say that he could have some cancer cells floating around somewhere and it could come back. He had clean margins and one dirty lymph node immediately adjacent to the tumor.

My daughters are driving me crazy asking me to find out more. It's nice that I can read about the things that others are experiencing and it helps me not to feel so alone. I have tried some of the things that you do also. Every day is a new challenge to figure out something for him to eat. I feel awful when he doesn't eat.

Sandy/MI

my husband is stage IV linitus plastica(rare stomach cancer) and we finally think this is working. The Drs. Office gave him enzymes to take. It breaks down the stomach acids so he can digest the fatty foods he had to eat. He drinks milk shades with Instant carnation breakfast, milk and ice cream 2-3 times a day. He has to take lactate pills prior because of the Milk products but he is holding his weight. My hisbands physician told him to stay at 2,500 calories per day. He eats Potot bread and dips in olive oil if he has a hard time swollowing. He Is better now because he had some chemo and we think it may of shrunk the tumor at the Gastroesophageal junction.

Hope this helps.

Judi