My Father Has Recently Been Diagnosed With Stomach Cancer He Will Shortly Be Starting Chemo And Having An Operation After To Remove All Or Part If His Stomach Does Any1 Here Weather It Be Doctor Nurses Or Family Or Better Patient Themselves That Could

[dee2912]

Give me their opinion on this illness and what the operation and recovery after is like many thanks in advance

[boxtops]

I'm sorry to hear your news, dee - it's hard for us to say without knowing more about your father, his general state of health, how advanced the cancer is...

[woofgang]

dee, is your family in touch with the MacMillan charity? They are excellent for getting the sort of information that you are asking for.
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/HowWeCanHelp/TalkToUs/Talktous.aspx

I hope this helps

[dee2912]

They say it is at the early stage, his health is good he's 63 but they've told him it is a high grade cancer,but they plan to do chemo for about 2 months then operate and it would be down to the doctor weather he felt the need when operating to remove all or just part of his stomach, just wondering what his life expectancy is after an op like that as iv heard people said its limited and some people don't recover

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

It's cancer dee. There are no guarantees.
His life expectancy will be shorter without the treatment though, there's no doubt about that.
I'm sorry you're all going through it. Good luck.

[Sqad]

The chemotherapy part of his treatment may well make him feel tired, weak and perhaps a little nauseous, but is standard treatment for this type of malignancy, but drugs can relieve these symptoms.

The operation of stomach removal (gastrectomy) and any other affected parts e.g pancreas is a standard procedure and he should be out of hospital within 10 days.

You describe the cancer as "high grade", not the best card to pick from the pack, as one is looking at a survival rate of around 10% of patients being alive at 5 yrs.

Also at operation, the liver will be examined for spread of the tumour (metastasis) which will affect the above prognosis.

[dee2912]

Hi sqad

I have a friend of a friend who works in icu and have dealt with patients after getting there stomachs removed and they say the recovery is terrible and a very big risky operation just wondering what someone else's views were

[murraymints]

So sorry to hear your news..I'm the lucky one, dad improving. You have to stay strong a d positive for him...then go home and scream !

[grumpy01]

My Father died from this disease in 1998 so on your behalf I hope significant strides have been made in its treatment since.