update on dad

peachycream

We made it Monday and had a test Tuesday and met with a doctor (he will be having tests until Friday). The cancer is going into his stomach, so they say they would have to cut half of his stomach out, along with a good bit of his esophagus. They said because of his past stroke and seizures, it is too risky and they don't want to do it. They said the treatment wouldn't really help, so they pretty much told us the worst... and this is MD Anderson! They said only 16 percent survive for 5yrs, and if he did treatment, he would only have 20 percent survival. We are all so upset... dad didn't even want to finish the rest of his appointments. I don't know what to do. Please pray.

K_ann1015

My prayers are with you. It
My prayers are with you. It is such a scary situation. Be strong for your dad because he's just as scared and sad as you are. I hope he did go to other doctor appts, sometimes they have have a different slant and maybe can offer a clinical trial?
Kim

Unknown

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Unknown

unknown said:

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Tina Blondek

Your Dad
Dear PeachyCream,
I agree totally with the others! Please get your dad a second opinion. My dad's first opinion gave him 6 mos, he got a second opinion, and lived for 16 months! Do not give up until you get another opinion. Let us know how you are making out. Prayers and hugs to you and your dad and your entire family.
Tina

peachycream

He did go to the rest of his
He did go to the rest of his appointments and we will know more tomorrow. I will update everyone. Thanks a lot of the comments!

Also, I don't think they can do the minimally invasive surgery, as they are having to take out half of his stomach, along with some of his esophagus. I will let you all know tomorrow. Thanks!

Pghmomma

peachycream said:

He did go to the rest of his
He did go to the rest of his appointments and we will know more tomorrow. I will update everyone. Thanks a lot of the comments!

Also, I don't think they can do the minimally invasive surgery, as they are having to take out half of his stomach, along with some of his esophagus. I will let you all know tomorrow. Thanks!

Peachy
I am praying for you guys! I really hope you guys get good news tomorrow! Im glad to hear he went to his appointments! Dont give up hope! They said my dad wouldnt make it thur surgery to repair a hole in his airway and he did. Your dad can beat the odds too!

God bless
Tina

Unknown

peachycream said:

He did go to the rest of his
He did go to the rest of his appointments and we will know more tomorrow. I will update everyone. Thanks a lot of the comments!

Also, I don't think they can do the minimally invasive surgery, as they are having to take out half of his stomach, along with some of his esophagus. I will let you all know tomorrow. Thanks!

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

unclaw2002

Peachy,
Don’t give up and
Peachy,
Don’t give up and don’t think there isn’t anything you can do even if surgery isn’t an option. If your dad wants to fight them help him do it because I am sure there are a lot of people that really enjoy having him around 
My dad had Stage III, T3N1M0 cancer and is 78 with complications of diabetes, high blood pressure. He was very active (Left the house at 10 and would return at 6 or six) has hobbies that keep him busy and is very social, generally in good health with a positive attitude. He got a second opinion which was vastly different than his first diagnosis.
So we heard . . . He is a candidate for surgery, maybe he is too old for surgery, he should do 3, no 1, no 2 chemo agents, he should have radiation, no he shouldn’t have radiation . . . maybe he can’t tolerate any radiation. I think you get the drift. So anyway we got that book 100 questions and answers to esophageal cancer and read it and talked and got advice from people on this site. My father said he wasn’t going to let someone else decide if he was going to live or die and he was going to fight this thing because he still had a lot of good years left in him and a lot of unfinished things to do.
Fast forward – the treatment - settled on chemo and radiation and would determine whether surgery is appropriate after he completes the treatment with considerations of quality of life. The oncologist at Sloan said that they have seen the chemo and radiation completely eliminate a tumor. They settled on two chemo agents which would do the least damage to his liver --- carboplatin and taxol --- so fast forward some more.
After his first round of chemo they did a pet scan (no radiation yet). The results were remarkable and astounded the doctors. Yes prayer and positive attitude will always confound someone looking at statistics. Anyway, the pet scan indicated that there was no activity in the lymph nodes which had earlier been staged with active cancer and the tumor in his esophagus had a reduced SUV activity from 10 to 4.1 (at 3 the doctors told my dad that the tumor would be considered inactive). Really amazing. So then they start the radiation and good news bad news happens.
His tumor has shrunk so much after 10 treatments (GOOD NEWS) that the stent in his esophagus to help him swallow falls into his stomach and he has to have emergency surgery to remove it from his stomach and insert a new one. Plus his white blood count is nonexistent so they have to delay any more chemo. He is very weak right now but he will resume radiation tomorrow and chemo as soon as his blood count is up. But right now I am telling him this is a cloud with a wonderful silver lining and now 2 days post surgery he is still scared but taking all this in stride. I go to visit him in New Orleans for a week in May, my Uncle is going down next week and in the meantime we are going to try to arrange having someone come in to help out. So it won’t be easy --- but it definitely is worth it.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

Cindy

Unknown

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Betty in Vegas

Wow
I love MD Anderson, I do. However...I'd get a second opinion. I am not a statistics girl. We were told that by statistics with Layne's staging, he had about four months. We will be at one year from diagnosis on Apr 27.

He's doing well, feels great, and I praise God for that.

Now this is not to say that he would not be a huge surgery risk due to age and past medical history. But at least get another opinion.

Who was your doctor? We have at least heard of most the EC docs there.

I'm sorry you are going through this. I truly am.

Betty

Tina Blondek

Pghmomma said:

Peachy
I am praying for you guys! I really hope you guys get good news tomorrow! Im glad to hear he went to his appointments! Dont give up hope! They said my dad wouldnt make it thur surgery to repair a hole in his airway and he did. Your dad can beat the odds too!

God bless
Tina

Best of luck to your dad
Hi Peachy,
Hang in there girl. You are doing a great job! I know you will TCB once you get down there. My thoughts and prayers go out to you your dad and your family. My dad used to call me scared sometimes too. The next morning he was apologizing and saying he was ok. I just feel that the sooner you can get to him the better. They need to have the comfort of their family around them. Best of luck, and keep us posted.
Tina

Tina Blondek

Pghmomma said:

Peachy
I am praying for you guys! I really hope you guys get good news tomorrow! Im glad to hear he went to his appointments! Dont give up hope! They said my dad wouldnt make it thur surgery to repair a hole in his airway and he did. Your dad can beat the odds too!

God bless
Tina

for Tina pghmomma
Hi Tina,
I have been thinking about you your dad and family. How is he doing? I know he made it through the surgery, how is he doing with his lungs? Let us know. Hugs to all of you!
Tina