Anyone With Stomach Cancer

I was diagnosed with stomach cancer in June 2003. This was very devastating news for my husband and I as I am only 45 years old. My husband of two years and I have five children and five grandchildren between us and are very much looking forward to watching them grow up so we are not giving up hope. I had half of my stomach removed and although they got all of the tumor they found cells in 6 out of 9 lymph nodes. I just finished chemo last week and have been through five weeks of radiation. I will be tested within the next couple of weeks to find out where I stand. I would like to here from anyone else who has this type of cancer and share information with them. From what I have learned this type of cancer is not common for my age and gender and I have been told that this is not an easy type to cure.

Hi Louann,
My mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer 2 years ago. She is now 56. I understand what you mean. She had her whole stomach removed and they did biopsies on her esophogus and found microscopic cancer cells. she went through chemotherapy and we thought she was cancer free. She did blood tests, cat scans, petscans, biopsies every 3 months. It never showed any cancer. She had her gall bladder removed last week and they found cancer cells back where her reconnection was done (esophogus and intestines). Her oncologist says there are clinical trials she could go to out of town. She's not giving up. Let me know how you are doing? Mirat

Hi:
I'm writing on behalf of my wife. She is now 46 years old. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer in Feb. of 2003. She had surgery to remove 2/3 of her stomach. Unfortunately, the cancer was located in the lower quadrant and it had permeated the stomach wall. It was discovered late due to an ulcer on top of the tumor. She had a endoscopy done in November of 2003 which found the ulcer. Biopsies done at that time came back negative. They did not reveal any cancer. The followup in February, however, did reveal the tumor. At the time of the surgery (March '03), the cancer had spread to 7 of 15 lymph nodes in the stomach area. She was staged at a 3-4.
She had radiation treatment 5 days a week for 5 weeks. And at the same time, was undergoing intensive Chemotherapy. She was getting Oxylaplatin every two weeks in an IV drip, and 5FU on a 24/7 pump.
She too did not fit the "norm" for gastric cancer. It is prevalent in Asian Males over the age of 50. She is obviously female, 45 years old, and caucasian. Go figure that one out!
And the good news.......She went into remission last November, and is still in remission now!
She has her blood markers checked every 6 weeks, and CT Scans done every 3 months. I believe that her remarkable turnaround, was due to a very aggressive chemo, and radiation regimen, prescribed by the Doctor who gave us the 2nd opinion. We are with Kaiser Permanente, but the Doctor who prescribed her treatment is a leading Oncologist at the USC Norris Cancer Center. He has been a life saver for us, in my opinion.
There is hope for you. I didn't think my wife had a chance of beating this at all, in the beginning. But I sure was glad to be wrong.

Jay B.

Mira T. & Jay B.

I would like to know how your loved ones are doing, as well as yourselves. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Keep the Faith, and God Bless. S

Jay and family- I am happy your wife is doing so well. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 stomach cancer (adenocarcinoma) in Jan of 2004, had a total gastrectomy (stomach removal) on 1/30/04, (prognosis was 12 months to live) and did chemotherapy at U of Mich, consisting of carboplatin and taxol, from April to September of 2004. Unfortunately, the chemo did not seem to work (effectively long term anyway) as I had obstructions in Sept and November of this year (2004) with the latter resulting in the need for additional surgery (bypass of the obstructed small bowel so that food could once again pass thru the system). At the time of my Nov. 2004 surgery my surgeon advised that he could not extend my life (expected prognosis- 4 weeks to 4 months)but could give me a better quality of life (food intake) which he did, but now the tumor is again obstructing or closing down the system. Even tho I understand that the cancer was at one time dispersed and thus hard to radiate, I am curious why my docs did not recommend radiation as they did with your wife...(altho the tumor is now intertwuined with the bowels so now it may be even harder to do) Any thoughts on that?

By the way, ulcers, often caused by a bacteria (H Pylori bacteria) are often/usually a prime ingredient for persons with stomach cancer. H Pylori is often passed in families, so all family memebers should be checked for this potentially lethal stomach cancer pre-cursor. I am now at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Chicago asking God for a miracle as my system continues to shut down and my body (already down in weight by 1/3) continues to shed weight. Would appreciate your prayers, thoughts and suggestions. TR

Anthony, you are certainly in my prayers. As to why your Doctors made the decisions they did, I have no answer for that. I can only say that every Doctor has his/her own regimen. Even with my wife, we had one Oncologist at Kaiser, who did not agree with the USC Oncologist at all. Thought his recommendation was way too experimental and wanted us to follow Kaisers approved plan. After doing my homework, I found Kaisers plan to be a 15 year old regimen that offered no hope at all. It was a bandaid type of treatment. The plan from the USC Doctor was in fact, cutting edge treatment, but Kaiser went along with it at my insistance. All I can say is, I'm glad I kept persuing other avenues of treatment. My wife continues to be in complete remission, which I can only attribute to the aggressive treatment and a miracle. Nov. 7th marked the one year point for her remission. I can only hope and pray that it continues.
I wish you all the best in your fight and I will keep you in my prayers.

Jay

Sandra, I appreciate your concern and would like to let you that Nov. 7th marked the 1 yr anniversary of my wife's being in remission. She returned to her full time work routine last March, after being out of work for one year. She's doing great. A helluva lot better than all the Doctors said she would. Can't explain it, but certainly not complaining.
I'm hangin' in there and can only hope that this continues for as long as possible.

Thank you so much for asking about us.

Jay

Jay- Thanks. I too will keep you and your wife in my prayers. God Bless. TR

First of all, what type of stomach cancer do you have? I am recovering from a partial gastrectomy (1/4 to 1/3 removal of my stomach). I have Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I am considered "cured" at this time. But my doc says this type cancer typically will return, possibly someplace else. I have a friend that lost 1/2 of her stomach to adenoma. SO it depends on the type and stage. Mine was stage 1 type B. I am praying for you!
Hugs,
Melody

Hi Lou-Ann,

I just signed up today. On Friday, March 18th I found out my dad was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach. (I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma and he is in Vancouver B.C., so being so far away is kind of hard...I wish I could just hug him and tell him that he will be okay.) He goes to the specialist on March 30th to get an honest opinion/prognosis of what his care will be. They found a spot on the skin lining between the esophogus and the stomach, and there is a lymph node that looks questionable. I'm not sure what to expect, but his doctor told him that she has another patient with a very similar story, who is now on her 3rd year of being cancer free. I'm still sort of in shock and don't know what to expect, so you are the first person (besides family) I am talking to. My dad is 77, the hero of my life and kindest man you could ever meet, and I am hopeful that he will pull through and enjoy many great years of life ahead. I want you to know that you are in my thoughts, and from the sounds of it, you are a young woman with a strong fighting spirit who will get through this. I'm here. Sheila.