Latest messages for CancerCompass discussion http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,37701,0.htm Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ I'm happy to hear some good news for a change.  My husband is 52 and he has stage III stomach cancer.  Best wishes and keep us posted.  Vicky sweettator Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT Dear Christine,Thanks for the uplifting update on your husband. It is so nice to hear continuing good news. How nice will it be to have the summer off to enjoy life. Are you starting to feel like it is just a "chronic condition" as opposed to a life sentence?Rick has hit the 30 month mark and continues to thrive, even after 38 chemo treatments. Life is GOOD, and such a blessing.Our hopes and prayers are with you and your family as you continue down this path beating back the monster. Enjoy your summer and have a great time.Thanks again for the great news, congratulations. Big Hugs...Scott Eliot1 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT HI So happy to hear your good news my husband also has stage 4 stomach cancer which is inoperable his 1st 5 treatments did not work and he just started a new chemo treatment every other week so he is sick most of time  he has 2 more to do then they will retest him.  He already had his tummy drained 3 times 2 wks ago they drained 8 ltrs. He decided if this 2nd treatment does not work he will also do the trials. I'm praying for good news it would great to get our life back & enjoy ourselves. Enjoy your time togetherDiane   deezin Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT Hi All... just wanted to post some good news to give others out there hope. 3 months ago my husband had a scan that showed growth while on 5FU/LV & oxaliplatin. So he came off the protocol. The doc told us at that time that he had used all FDA approved drugs to trat my husband and we had 2 options: to do a trial or do nothing. He told us that my husband had survived 8mo longer than they thought he would and that we should prepare that he would live months or a year tops. We left the office feeling like we were kicked in the gut again and had no idea what to do. We were given info for the clinical trials at Dana Farber in Boston and immediately contacted them to meet and get info. After over a month of reading trial after trial we made a decision and chose the trial that was right for our family. Problem was we needed to wait another 4 weeks to get into the trial. It was scary to let a total of 9 weeks go by with no treatment but we enjoyed several family milestones (graduations & 1st communion) with no treatment and my husband was feeling better than he has since being diagnosed (stage IV gastric) 18mo ago. Last week we went to DFCI to start the trial. After meeting with the nurse for a bit adn having bloodwork, we went across to the center where they treat the trial patients. The nurse met us there adn told us the doc was coming to talk to us before we start becuz the scan showed something! OH NO! Well, it turns out that his scan actually showed less fluid in the abdomen than 10 weeks prior but he had not been drained at all. He also said the spot we thought was a metastatic lesion on his liver 10 weeks ago was not believed to be metastatic but probably just a "vessel" and too small to even consider biopsy! So, the doc seriously recommended that my husband take the summer off and not start the trial right now. He thinks that doing nothing was better for him than trying a drug that could make him sicker than ever. We were thrilled to say the least. For the first time in 18 mo my hubby was better and this was all after 10 weeks of NO treatment AT ALL!  He is being evaluated every 3 weeks to make sure nothing happens and if anything changes then we will look at 2 new trials that may be better for him in the long run.I know I wrote alot but I want you all to have HOPE! I lost all hope 10 weeks ago and today we are enjoying a beautiful weekend on cape cod with our kids and several friends for the holiday weekend. HANG IN THERE!!!!!!  :) 2caret Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT