New and so many questions

Celia 268

My husband, Alan was diagnosed with gastric/esophageal cancer in May 2009. Since that time he has had 5 weeks of daily radiation and two week-long chemotherapy treatments as an inpatient. Following that, he went to Stanford hospital to have surgery to remove parts of his stomach and esophagus. It was a very difficult surgery and he was there five weeks with fluid accumulation and infections. He survived that (after losing 50 pounds)and returned home in mid-November. We just learned two weeks ago that the cancer has returned in a lymph node on his neck (he had it removed) and he is currently hospitalized with fluid on his left lung which they say also contains cancer cells. Has anyone else had anything like this history? They say the cancer is now in advanced stage. What does this mean in terms of treatment? I know he is not curable. Does this mean there is no hope? His oncologist is telling us that he will have more chemo. Anyone else out there who has had their cancer spread? I have a pit in my stomach every minute of every day. Alan is 64 and was in excellent health before all this.