Linitis Plastica Carcinoma

gmaher

Hi,
My father has been recently diagnosed with a gastric cancer - Linits Plastica. My family has been struggling to find people with an expertise in this area or even someone that has seen this type of gastric cancer. I've read some of the messages related to this topic, but have not come across any updates of their status or any successes.
Since it is not operable he will begin chemo today. The cocktail is 5-fu, carboplatin, and taxotere. He was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with stage 4 (maybe stage 3; it may have spread to a few lymph nodes, but not to any other organs yet).
Anyway, I was hoping someone could give advice on institutes/oncologists (from what we've learned many gastric oncologists/surgeons have not had practical experience with this type) and some perspective on what my family can prepare for to help him through this ...
-Thank you

Unknown

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lanzeracdeb

My aunt has had her stomach and spleen removed 20 months ago for this disease. She has since had 12 weeks of chemo, then because of bowel difficulties, obstructions, has had a colostomy. She is finding it very difficult to eat anything that doesnt cause pain, wind, indigestion etc. She is now very thin and I fear she may be in danger of malnutrition. We have been told that food supplement drinks would cause dumping syndrome and we are at a loss as to how to feed her. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Ethlinn

lanzeracdeb said:

My aunt has had her stomach and spleen removed 20 months ago for this disease. She has since had 12 weeks of chemo, then because of bowel difficulties, obstructions, has had a colostomy. She is finding it very difficult to eat anything that doesnt cause pain, wind, indigestion etc. She is now very thin and I fear she may be in danger of malnutrition. We have been told that food supplement drinks would cause dumping syndrome and we are at a loss as to how to feed her. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I understand your issue with malnutrition, because we believed my father ended up starving to death at the end. The last week of his life we could only get him to drink water, orange juice and coffee.

Here's some tips I learned from helping to care for him. I hope they can help.
- We gave him drinks like boost and all that and just monitered how much he drank. After a few weeks he got sick of the taste, but it did help for a while. You may learn that food your Aunt used to like she no longer does and vice versa. Try everything and anything and do it in frequent small amounts. I would have to say that everything will upset her tummy and cause pain, that can't be helped, that is what I found. No matter what they need nutrience. They are going to be in pain no matter what in the latter stages.
-Drinks and frozen treats made from lemon and lime really helped my Dad to feel refreshed and clean the horrid taste in his mouth that seemed to stay there near the end.
-I plied him with yogurt, a cookie, a bite or two of chilli. I don't know if it will be the same for your Aunt, but the last two months we found that my Dad's appetite changed dramatically so we had a huge amount of food on hand and he would say have two bites of stew and later perhaps a piece of cheese and the next day he would want a bite of pasta. It became a bite or two of everything rather than real meals, but that is all he could take.
-Keep some sort of heartburn medicine, (doctor approved though) around to help, but as I said, there will always be discomfort.
-Although some doctors disaproved, we brought my father in for iv occasionaly and for blood transfusions. He really perked up after those for a week or two, but when he felt good he was much crabbier, just incase your aunt gets those mood swings.
-As he got near the end it was only some liquids.
-Keep straws, cut to fit the glass, around because it's easier for them to sip water or whatever especially if they are stuck on their back.

Hope that helps in some way. I found sitting with my father and giving him ideas on what to eat really helped and I did alot of baking.
Remember that they need food of some sort, but keep it in small quantities and especially watch the sugar and fat quantities, giving them smaller amounts of those foods.

wantacure

Dear GMaher,
hope to
Dear GMaher,
hope to hear your father is doing well and beating this cancer.