Very Frustrated needs Advice

My grandmother had surgery to remove her stomach 3 weeks ago and she is still in the hospital. The doctors said she would only be there about a week after surgery. I know everyone is different but how long is the norm? My grandmother is 69 and before the cancer diagnosis was she was a healthy lady. The doctors act like they don't care it's almost like they performed the surgery and now don't care what happens to her. She is going on four weeks this Wednesday. She still ask for pain medicine every 2 hours on the dot! Is this normal to be taking so much pain medicine? I don't see her coming home anytime soon! She just seems so out of it. Does anyone have any advice or want to share their experience? My family is clueless on what to now and the doctors are not being to helpful on what to do now. We have nothing to compare her progress with so we are frustrated and clueless and scared. This is not what we expected.

Thank You.

I totally understand your frustration and fear.  My husband went through the surgery at 51 Sep 2008 and he was a very healthy man before being diagnosed too.  He stayed in the hospital 14 days and slowly recovered.  But we were blessed with an excellent surgeon who really cared.  We found out last week his cancer has returned in his lymph nodes and we are waiting to see his onocologist this week to go over "the plan".  Stomach cancer is a terrible disease and with your grandmother's age I'm sure it is taking it's toll on her.  I would request a conference with the doctor or request a second opinion.  I wish you the best of luck with everything and hope your grandmother gets better soon.

I also understand the frustration.  four weeks is a long time.  The after surgery care was more important to me than anything else, and I too found it lacking.  I had the surgery in Feb. 09.  The main thing they stressed for me was the return of normal body functions like eating and digestion.  I refused the use of the feeding tube and walked as much as I could tolerate.  The movement was enough to kick start my digestion back to something close to normal (actually thats a joke, cause nine months later and its still not normal).  I was out of the hospital in nine days, but I'm only 46. 

Yes, I believe you are 100% correct seeing that today the doctor looked at us and said you didn't know she was going to die? I thought you knew this? He said this infront of my mother and my grandmother in her hospital room. No one had informed us that she was going to die. Going into the surgery we were all told it was contained they would take the whole stomach and she would go home and have chemo and everything would be fine. This is a horror story thats getting worse everyday.  Thank you for taking the time to reply. We are in the process of seeking help from another doctor and hospital.

So happy to hear that you are seeking other places for some answers/treatment.

Yes, this is a horrible disease....and your Grandmothers age i am sure does not help any. But it is good that she was healthy prior to the surgery.

Get as many opinions as you need. There will be a team of doctors that will care, even if the prognosis isn't the best.

My Father was 74 when he had 40% of his stomach removed and his Dr's took excellent care of him. They were very informative. We did go to 2 other places to seek 2nd & 3rd opinions. But it was too far gone by the time it was caught in the 1st place.

Blessings to you and your family. Keep up the fight. Get info off the internet and anywhere else you can. Ask lots of questions and never take "no" for an answer. Every patient is viable until their last breath. Find a facility that is willing to give you all the answers and help you need and your Grandmother deserves.

Peace, Kris