Stopping Chemo

My husband Martin was having cisplatin and 5-FU which saw a significant improvement for the first 3 sessions. Then last time they started with epirubicin as a third drug.

Now he is very breathless and the water retention in his abdomen which was drained off a couple of months ago has returned. We understand this can be drained again.

The doctor at the outpatients clinic has this morning stated that the chemotherapy must have stopped working so they will stop it and just address the breathing problem (she didn't say how) and the fluid problem. We suggested that the fluid could be drained again - it wasn't offered initially.

We feel he is being abandoned - obviously we are both very distressed and clutching at anything. Can anyone think of an alternative please ??

We know the chemotherapy is pailliative and not a cure but why are they reluctant to continue with it when the alternative seems to be to return to a state of starving to death

My bank manager suggested fruit enzymes helped her husband when he was dying ; has anyone tried this ?

Hi,

I am so sorry as to what you are going through. What type of cancer does your husband have? I just lost my mother to Signet Ring Cell Carcanomia last Wed. She was in stage 4 when they told her. She did no chemo, radiation. She was a strong beleiver in natural vitamins and other remedys. The doctors told us that what ever she did worked, she was given 3 to 6 months and that was pushing it. You said that he was haing trouble breathing, is that due to the fluid building up in the lungs? Have they told you at anytime that is what was happening? I will be waiting to hear from you and I will be researching in what he could take that would help.

God Bless,Lori

There are several other reasonable standard chemotherapy regimens for gastric cancer besides ECF. I am sure your oncologist knows them. There are also clinical trials to be tried.

Perhaps your husband's oncologist feels that temporarily, your husband is not strong enough for any chemotherapy. If the oncologist was giving up for good, your husband would have been referred to hospice.

During this break from chemotherapy, do you think your husband is well enough to fly somewhere for a second opinion?

At the very least, you would get peace of mind that all that could be done is being done if the second opinion agrees with the current plan.

Tough cases like your husbands are often referred to top places. These places see many more of these tough cases in a week than most oncologists see in a lifetime. They have more experience with more treatment regimens including the latest newest ones that have not yet made their way to local oncologists.

Many people who had been given death sentences by their local doctors have been put in remission or cured by such top centers. Where a person goes to get treatment does make a difference. At least go and hear what they have to say. If you go to the link below there are links to each place and each web site has phone numbers you can call to make an appointment.

TOP 50 BEST *CANCER* CENTERS 2006
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/rankings/

1. Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center, New York
2. University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
4. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
5. Dana - Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
6. University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle
7. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
8. University of Chicago Hospitals
9. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
10. University of California, San Francisco Medical Center

Hello! My name is LOLA and the reason that I am writting this message is because I am so sad and lost these days. I lost my father on
August 28,2006. He he had the worst stomach cancer. It was number 1,one of the most dangerous. From stomach it went through his liver. My father was so young, he was only 54.I am from Albania and I have been living in NEW JERSEY for 6 years.My father got diagnozed with cancer in May 10 and I went back home in June. We decided to let him stay home with us. the family. The doctor sad that we could do chemotherapy but he might not make it through. Especially when a person is sensative, and they do not have a good chance of living longer, why torture them in a hospital. The Best thing is to leave them at home with their family and enjoy every second that is left. We gave him all the medication to lower the pain. I feel all the pain that the people that are going through. It is very hard knowing that someone is dieing and you can't help and cure them. The best thing is to show love and support, and let them go when it is time to go. I don't know I am hurt and I pray everyday that somehow one day the medicine will find cure.