Has anyone survived stage 4 stomach cancer?

paddy24

im a survivor

Hi there, I had all my stomach removed, chemo and radiotherapy in 2010, I had stage4 cancer. Luckily it hadnt metastised elsewhere. The whole treatment was a huge ordeal, and if I had to go thru it again, I would seriously think about it!! However, although, my quality of life has changed drastically, I am still here to tell the tale 3 years on. It is very life changing either way, so good luck to you and yours!

paddy24

FortunateOne said:

I am a Stage 4 (metastasised) Gastric Cancer Survivor

I am a Stage 4 (metastasised) Gastric Cancer Survivor - I'm still here! Female in my late 40s, hoping to see my late 50s. It is my hope to help others with this Deadly Disease by providing information about my experience living with this condition. Hoping for an 'official' remission.

Best wishes

Stage 4 too!

I was 49, in 2010 when diagnosed and treated. Now in 2013 still alive and kicking, but not as high!! Any tips on curing my back problems, which, I think is damage due to all the treatment!?

paddy24

Hillarjr said:

Fat and happy two years after Stage 4 diagnosis
I was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma of the stomach, HER-2 positive, full stomach wall thickness, lots of positive lymph nodes, maybe a tiny metastasis to the peritoneum. Partial gastrectomy, oxaloplatin for 6 or 7 cycles (yes, I do have some chemobrain), Xeloda two weeks on, one week off since then. Herceptin infusions every three weeks since them.

Currently, I am almost two years out with no cancer symptoms (only treatment side effects) and no evidence of disease. My long term prognosis remains a little questionable, but the prognosis for stage 4 is much less grim than it was even a few years ago,particularly stage 4 that is HER-2 positive.

I first read this thread two years ago and almost despaired. Please do not despair. In addition to the much improved three aments now available, there several more in development that may be available in the next couple years :-)

similar case to mine

Hi Hillarjr!! Im in the UK. My story is very similar to yours.  Did you have a total gastrectomy also? and do you struggle with your eating if so?

CaptainChink

Living it out

there have been successful stories of people surviving cancer, some not getting chemo at all due to not being able to afford it, by eating ONLY veggies and very little fruits and very very few amount of chicken and fish every day

vinniebob

ritak721 said:

My boyfriend(53years old) is suffering from Stage IV gastric cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis. He went trough Subtotal Gastrectomy,Chemo and Radiation. Originally he was diagnosed with Stomach CA in July 2011. All treatment was finished in February 2012. On May 1st the PET scan showed NO cancer and we were so happy about it! However, this happiness was short-lived because at the end of May he started having problems with digesting his food; the food would stay and lay in his stomach until he had to throw it all up. Doctors tried many endoscopies and scans and said that the area where his stomach is connected to his small intestine was closed. So, apparently he had a recurrence of the cancer and this time the peritoneal area is involved. Now he gets all his feedings trough IV TPN. GI Doc was able to place two stents,but it makes no difference, he still can not eat anything. We have been from one hospital to another, from second opinion to third. In the beginning it was very promising that things would be okay and he would recover, but now the doctors don't want to do any surgery to clean the tumor and fix the blockage issue. We were hopping for HIPEC surgery at CTCA,but it's all been turned down because the surgeon thinks his cancer is too advanced and therefore the surgery may not work. I read a lot of articles, saw videos about surgeons who performed this HIPEC surgery successfully, and this made me belive that HIPEC is the only hope we have left. I don't know what to do anymore and how to help him! He gets continuous abdomen pain, like a bloating pain with nausea all the time, and only IV pain meds help for a short time before he needs to receive more.
Now he (we) in the hospital for a week already treating a PNA. Still very confused about everything is going on! Our last hope is Holistic Family Medicine with Dr.Thomas Cowan here in San Francisco. Tomorrow we have a phone appointment to discuss my boyfriend diagnosis and plan of care. The reason why did we choose holistic route is simply because the traditional medicine is "closed" for us!
Here is the link below, do your own search and I am pretty sure you will be able to find same clinic in your area.


http://fourfoldhealing.com/
Please keep in touch,
Rita

hi, I am so sorry to hear

hi, I am so sorry to hear about your boyfriend, but my mom is going throuhg the same thing right now and we were looking into holistic medicine and I was just wondering if it worked?

Mkbonline

My diabetic /high BP patient

My diabetic /high BP patient 63 yrs mother  came to US to visit us from Delhi, India and got swollen left leg due to blood clotting. Endoscopy/Biopsy revealed that blood clotting was due to Stage 4 Stomach cancer signet ring cell adenocarcinoma. we are all shocked. Doc at Washingston hospital in Fremont, CA is recommendeding Radio/Chemo but we are not convinced because of the side effect and my mother general health state.

Hospital problems in chronological order as of 23th july

 

1. DVT of leg (Deep venous thrombosis)

2. Blood in stool

3. Iron deficincy anemia due to chronic blood loss

4. Anemia due to acute blood loss

5. Mass in stomach (discovered in CT scan)

6. Cancer in stomach

7. Pulmonay embolism

 

its metastatic and spread to many lymp nodes

 

I have been doing research on alternative treatments (carrot therapy, chinese herbs, homeopathy etc) but not sure which one to pursue. any help will be greatly appreciated .

 

manish

 

 

SLYPER39

has anyone survived?

6 years so far

SLYPER39

FortunateOne said:

I am a Stage 4 (metastasised) Gastric Cancer Survivor

I am a Stage 4 (metastasised) Gastric Cancer Survivor - I'm still here! Female in my late 40s, hoping to see my late 50s. It is my hope to help others with this Deadly Disease by providing information about my experience living with this condition. Hoping for an 'official' remission.

Best wishes

me too! god bless

me too! god bless

DesiD

Susan627 said:

Idedona
No, he went about his daily routine. We just found out that they want him to finish the last 2 rounds of chemo which he will start next week. They do not want to do surgery because they don't want to open a can of worms. They will monitor him & send him for tests every 3 months or so. Now it's the fear of the unknown. Will he have a reoccurence. Still very scary.

Hi, I know its been a while

Hi, I know its been a while since you posted but was just wondering how your dad is going with his cancer? 

marinexiro

SLYPER39 said:

has anyone survived?

6 years so far

surgery

did they take stomach out?

kerriporter

PVAL said:

Stage IV Stomach Cancer
Hi, my husband was diagnosed with stomach cancer stage IV on march of this year, of course surgery was not an option and he was only offered chemo but he doesn't believe in chemo because is very toxic for your body, he is doing an alternative treatment, is called the Gerson Therapy, based on organic food, 13 juices per day and supplements, he was given 3 to 6 months to live without chemo or 12 to 18 months with chemo. I wanted to know how you are doing with your immune system boosting, any improvements on your stomach?
And for anyone else that is reading this, have you heard of the Gerson Therapy? Or what about the Burzynski Clinic? I am trying to find out what is the best option for my husband and this is not an easy choice.
Thank you for any response.

Update on your husband!!

Hello, I'm very curious to know if your husband continued with the Gerson Therapy. I am starting it myself and want to know what his results have been. Please update me.

LisaJane99

LisaLisa929 said:

Survived!
I did! I had stage 4 esophageal/stomach cancer that went to my liver. I had chemo - an obscene amount of it - and I am fine! I wrote a book - let me know if you would like one - good luck! Pray hard! Lisa

Your book

Hi there
I hope you are very well. My lovely friend has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer and they are not giving her much hope. Please can you tell me how I can get hold of your book?
Kind regards

Lisa

LisaJane99

FortunateOne said:

I am a Stage 4 (metastasised) Gastric Cancer Survivor

I am a Stage 4 (metastasised) Gastric Cancer Survivor - I'm still here! Female in my late 40s, hoping to see my late 50s. It is my hope to help others with this Deadly Disease by providing information about my experience living with this condition. Hoping for an 'official' remission.

Best wishes

Thriving after a stomach cancer diagnosis

Hi there

 

My dear friend has just been diagnosed and I'm wondering if you could share the diet you eat or anything else you've taken that has helped you. 

I do hope you are very well.

 

Kind regards

Lisa

LindaHope2

preef said:

My dad is Stage 4
My dad, age 72, was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer in mid February of this year. He had a massive amount of mets in the liver. I saw the CT scan - he had far too many tumors in his liver to count. By the time they found it he was so week he needed oxygen in the hospital. He barely survived his first two rounds of chemo and ended up in the ICU twice because of extremely low blood pressure due to dehydration. He spent most of February, March and April in the hospital. He couldn't eat or drink much of anything. It looked really bad and the doctors thought he wouldn't leave the hospital. The doctors stopped a chemo cycle early and lowered his dosage for the following chemo cycles to about half of what his initial dose was. He's been getting CT scans every two cycles (6 weeks) and his liver mets are shrinking by 30% each time. They only monitor the liver since poor liver function is what can be fatal - not the stomach. Also because they can't see the stomach tumor on the CT scan.

He started on Oxaliplatin and Xeloda chemotherapy. After 6 rounds of Oxaliplatin they discontinued it because of concerns about neuropathy. The oncologist was going to take him off the Xeloda too but we insisted he stay on it since some recent studies have shown that taking a break from chemo reduces survival time. The studies showed taking a break from the more toxic drugs like oxaliplatin and staying on the less toxic drugs like 5FU or Xeloda greatly improved survival. We will have to wait about a month for his next CT scan to find out if the Xeloda alone is continuing to reduce the tumor size.

We also have my dad taking PSK (http://www.mushroomscience.com/products/coriolus-super-strength-turkey-tail/) from Mushroom Science as well as AHCC. These seem to have helped him regain his strength after getting out of the hospital.

LisaLisa Congratulations. I'm so happy for you. I'd like to know how you did it. What drugs and alternative treatments did you do?

Good luck to all of you.

May dad has stage 4 stomach cancer

Hi perrf, how is your dad doing?