Radiation ... Second thoughts.

My father was diagnosed with stage III stomach cancer. He has had a subtotal gastrectomy and has recovered very well. I will admit we were very ignorant about the treatment process. We were told we would need chemo and radiation and we were ok withntha. However after meeting and discussing radiation with the oncologist we were very frightened. The doctor was very honest with us and said expect to be sick and this was going to be a lot harder than chemo (which is what we were more anxious about). He told us 80% can not handle and finish radiation. Unfortunately we were caught off guard with the tone of the consultation that we missed asking a lot of key questions which we will address with him. Was wondering if anyone refused radiation? Has anyone gone through it and how was it? We did appreciate the physicians candor but should have asked him if he would do it or put his father through it. Thanks and stay strong everyone.

While my husband doesn't have stomach cancer, he did have 35 radiation treatments on his neck for laryngeal cancer.  The worst part for him was not being able to swallow after 2 weeks or less of radiation.  He did have a feeding tube inserted before starting the radiation.

Now we are getting ready for a second round for esophugus cancer.  Whether he can have more radiation around the area of where the tumor is, we are not sure yet.   My husband had said he wouldn't undergo radiation again, and that is what we thought he would say this time, not true.  He is ready to go the full route of treatment.  I don't know how old you father is, my husband was 73 when he had the first round of radiation and is now 75.  I met people younger and older undergoing radiation and all had different stories since no two bodies react the same.

You might want to get another opinion on the radiation.  We were told that radiation on the neck was the worse and that many didn't complete the course.  The decision to undergo or not is your father's and many have turned down radiation and had no problems not having it and others have problems.   

Hi tdsdaughter, I also had stage 3 stomach cancer, had a partial gastrectomy, and followed up with four rounds of chemo with 5-weeks of radiationduring the second chemo round.  I will also be honest that the radiation was the hardest part of the whole experience, but for me, I would say it was worth it.  In July it will be 4 years since surgery and there have been no signs of recurrence.  I knew going in that the radiation would be hard, but I also knew that the odds of beating this were greatly improved by doing the whole chemo/radiation treatment.  During the 5 weeks of radiation, I was getting chemo (5FU) continuously via a pump I wore on a belt.  What I found was that the first week or two were relatively easy, but by the third week I started to feel the nausea and eating and drinking became harder.  When this starts is is extremely important to stay hydrated.  Because I was having trouble drinking enough, I started getting saline injections at the infusion center which helped a lot--felt better and could eat better.  The radiation gradually saps your energy and this persists for awhile after the treatments end, but recovery does happen, it just requires patience.  Today I do almost everything I did before the surgery and feel that I have recovered completely from the chemo and radiation.  Any remaining changes are due to the changes caused by the surgery.  It is good that your doctor was honest, but sounds a little blunt.  Fortunately, my radiation oncologist is a cancer survivor himself and had been through the same treatment he was about to set up for me, so he was excellent at explaining the process.  Good luck with whatever is decided.  I hope this is helpful.  Rick

I  had 5 wks of chemo+radiation.  It was 5 angle IMRT.  More tough than just chemo but not horrible for me.  I had persistent coughing because my trachea was burned some.  I have a little residual pulmonary fibrosis.  I did lose a lot of weight.  If I were asked, I would do it again though.

Tom

Thanks everyone for sharing. My father is in his second round of chemo and has begun radiation. So far so good. I shared with my father your stories and it seem to help make him more comfortable with his decision. Thanks again and all the best to you guys.

My husband went through simultaneous chemo and radiation for 5 days a week for almost 6 weeks.  He was able to complete the radiation, but it did make him very tired and not in the mood to eat.  He said he would not have been able to do one more day of it if it had lasted longer than the original treatment session.  She did really well until about the last week of it, but the radiologist was amazaed at how well he did.  He was 74 years old and in good health.  He has always worked out and was very fit and I think that was what helped keep him going.  He is having difficulty gaining weight back and he has been off of his treatments for almost 2 months now.

My father was diagnosed with Stage 2a and had radiation (while on Xeloda) about 6 weeks after a partial gastrectomy.  The radiation was hands-down the hardest part of his overall treatment.  The first two weeks were fine, but he started having severe nausea at the beginning of the third week and it persisted for weeks (even after the radiation treatments were finished).  He barely finished 5 weeks, and could barely stomach eating or drinking.  Smells also bothered him a great deal, and we couldn't do any cooking in the house. 

He lost about 15 lbs during the entire process.  He was also dehyrated and he was able to get saline infusions once a week, which helped.  We also started appetite stimulants (megestrol worked the best) and that seemed to help him gain some of his appetite back.