Mom Just Diagnosed With Gallbladder Cancer, Can Anyone Offer Help Or Advice?

My mom was just diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. She went in to have it removed a week ago and they found cancer in it and the lymph nodes that they took out with the gallbladder. The doctor said they have never seen this cancer before and they want to send her to a hospital in houston. We don't know if it has spread or how far. We are very scared. Can anyone offer any advise or tell me what my mom should be expecting or what kind of questions to be asking the doctor?

I found out that i had the same cancer 1 year ago. It is not a good cancer there is not much they know. But has helped me is having a positive out look dont settle with what they have to say. I did 2 surgerys and went six weeks of chemo and radiation then went 12 more weeks of just chemo it was gone for 4 months and now is back. So i am undergoing chemo again. tell your mom to ask about having it all removed before she starts treatment there are a bunch of diffrent types of surgery they can do. Look in to cyber knife also ask about chemo and if the 5FU pump would work. she will get verry tired and not want to get out of bed but the best thing that helped me was family and friends. dont let her do the reserch have someone else do it because everything that she will read will say nothing good about the out come.
by best wishes to you and if you need to talk I am here.
melissa

Thank you for replying. If you don't mind talking about it, do you know what stage your was at when you first got diagnosed? Its just weird because she wasn't even sick, she almost put off having her gallbladder removed and now she has cancer. We live in a small town in kansas and they have never even seen it before so they are sending her to a hospital in houston. We still don't even know if her cancer has spread or anything.

Don't despair, there are a number of patients who have survived years after GBC was discovered.
I have gall bladder cancer, and was diagnosed more than a year ago (August 9, 2005) and was told that I should put my affairs in order. I researched this rare disease on the internet, and learned that I should have died nine months later, based on the statistical averages. I didn't! The problem with statistical averages is that they are based on large homogeneous populations, and that doesn’t exist for this rare cancer. Even then, very few cases exist exactly at the average – and there is a wide variation around the average. In addition, medical care is better today than it was even a couple of years ago, and life expectancy has increased.

I am an actuary, a mathematician who usually works with insurance statistics. The life expectancy statistics I found were not encouraging, but were a lot more complete than the statistics relating to treatment. Few studies have been completed on the effectiveness of surgery, radiation, chemo, diet, prayer, or any other type of treatment for gall bladder cancer. And even fewer provide information to the most interested population – those of use who have the disease.

I hope to change that. I have developed a survey form that collects a lot of information which I then summarize in a large spreadsheet. I only have a few people in my data base now, but hope to reach many others who can provide actual treatment history to help educate both us patients and our physicians.

Please go to my website, gbsurvey.blogspot.com, and contact me. I will send you the results I have obtained to date, some of which is quite encouraging.

I can help put you in touch with others with GBC as well.

I'll keep you in my prayers, and look forward to hearing from you.

Woody

I went to your site but when i e-mailed you it didn't work, my e-mail got sent back to me. Could you e-mail me first and then i will tell you everything i know about my moms condition. my e-mail is --- Message edited by CancerCompass staff: for personal protection, email address removed. Please review CancerCompass Member Guidelines at http://www.cancercompass.com/common/guidelines.html ----. I hope that goes through so you can get it. I hope to hear from you or anyone with this cancer soon.

I was a stage 4 when they first found it and after my second surgery it went to a stage 2. but now i am not to sure. all i know is that they say i have a 1 year life left and what is odd is that i am not sick i dont look sick and the only thing i feel is tired.... so back to treatment and they say this only has a 30% chance to work.. I have an 11 year old son how am i going to tell him that i only have one year??? any advice on how you would tell him
melissa

This whole cancer thing really sucks! I couldn't imagine living without my mom and i am 24. I also have a 3 year old son who has heard me crying every night for the last week since we found out about my mom. I don't know how to explain it to him either. I guess just be honest and make the most out of the time you have. And fight the cancer to the very end! But your right it is crazy because my mom is not sick either! She almost didn't even have her gallbladder out. And now she has cancer. But the doctors could be wrong. You might have a lot of years left in you. But one thing that I would do if i were you, is to start making tapes or letters for your child. Something he can open from you on special occasions. I have heard of other people doing that before. But how can you only have a year left if your not even sick? Get another opinion. I will be praying for you.

Mindy L.,

I've been beating the odds since April 1999. Had liver and gallbladder resection then, Mets back to my right lobe of liver and both lungs. decided holistic approach for a few years and just monitor growth. Finally the last two years I have had 4 different regimens of chemo. Things have gone back and forth shrinkage, regrowth, stablized, to very slow progression. I'm going to try 3D conformal radiation starting Monday for my liver and see what happens. I've been told 1 year and another said 6 months. I chose to to live with it and stay around for awhile. It has been over 7 years now and my quality of life really is not that bad at present. I still watch the grandchildren, do errands, and drive myself to all my appointments. I've sold and bought 3 three homes of course moved from North Dakota to Maine to Kansas all during this time. Really look in to the power of the mind and healing along with any conventional type treatments and drink lots of grape juices and pure water. Statistics say I should have been knocking on heavens gate 6 years ago. Well my new goal is to reach a decade or actually knock this cancer crap out of my body with the power of my mind and balancing my body to have inner peace and send those cancer cells a-packing. If the cancer wins this battle I'll know it wasn't the cancer that takes my life but the will of God. This cancer is very rare and responds differently on different people. De-stress your body and find the quiet time to meditate and visualize the Army of white blood cells chasing the cancerous cells out of your body or at least knocking them back behind the line you my choose to draw. Remember to stay positive and that your in control. Don't look at the statistics! Your an individual with different variables than another person with the same crap. I'm sorry I meant to just give a few words of encouragement not give a lecture. Remember" help will come to those who help themselves". A little support is certainly appreciated as well. I thank my wife and 2 children (grown-ups suppossively) Ha!Ha! and the Lord above. Oh, I don't want to forget my 2 Grand children BaBa and Pumpkin. Stay positive and don't hesitate to ask for help and strongly advocate for yourself. God's Speed to you all!!
Jeff

It is so good to hear from someone who has been living with this cancer for so long. I am just so worried that the doctors will tell my mom she only has 6 months to a year. She is only 56 and i can't imagine living without her. I still need her and am not ready to let her go yet. We really don't know much about my moms condition. We live in a small town here in kansas and the doctors have never seen this cancer before. So they are sending her to houston. She has her first apppointments this week with the doctors there. I will let you know what they tell her then.

I have posted the treatment package and current situation regarding my sister in law. If you need other specific information please advise and I will supply. You are indeed correct when you say that little documented treatment plans have collected to establish an effective plan and better defined prognosis.