My father has ppc... Chance of operation?

PPC_daugther

Hi there!

My father has recently been diagnosed with ppc. This was after a several week long process with doctors who did not know (and still doesnt) anything about this disease. The doctors are in the process of deciding wheter he is a candidate for the hipec operation. But they are not giving us much information on his chances.

My father is 56 years old, and otherwise in fair health, at his last scan the cancer was 3-4 cm thick and had not spread to other organs. He cannot digest his food and needs morphine regularly. 

i hope you can help answer a few questions:

Is 3-4 cm thick cancer a lot?

Will he get better fast when he gets chemo?

what could make the doctors decide, he is not at candidate for surgery?

 

thank you

- Maria

abrub

Please ask your father to get to a major cancer center

He needs to work with oncologists who know this cancer, and can determine the cell type.  I go to Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC.  There are other comparable centers throughout the US.

PPC_daugther

abrub said:

Please ask your father to get to a major cancer center

He needs to work with oncologists who know this cancer, and can determine the cell type.  I go to Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC.  There are other comparable centers throughout the US.

Thanks for your reply

Unfortunately we live in Denmark, and here are no cancer centres like in the US. if you get cancer in DK you just go to the normal hospital, where there is a cancer departement.

in Denmark, only 4 people per year is diagnosed with Ppc, so the knowledge is limited. I am trying to have my father moved to a cancer clinic in Sweden, however, this is extremely expensive, so I will try to fundraise.

about a week ago we were told that the Danish hospital would do the hipec surgery, but only after the cancer had been treated with chemo.

today we have been told that he might not be in good enough condition to get chemo... 

I am so scared and so frustrated.

seatown

PPC_daugther said:

Thanks for your reply

Unfortunately we live in Denmark, and here are no cancer centres like in the US. if you get cancer in DK you just go to the normal hospital, where there is a cancer departement.

in Denmark, only 4 people per year is diagnosed with Ppc, so the knowledge is limited. I am trying to have my father moved to a cancer clinic in Sweden, however, this is extremely expensive, so I will try to fundraise.

about a week ago we were told that the Danish hospital would do the hipec surgery, but only after the cancer had been treated with chemo.

today we have been told that he might not be in good enough condition to get chemo... 

I am so scared and so frustrated.

Hope this reference might help.

So sorry to hear about your father's illness. I was diagnosed with primary peritoneal cancer just over a year ago and have been looking for information ever since. Even though you are in Denmark, you might find a useful reference in the [U.S.] National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for patients with ovarian cancer.

http://www.nccn.org/patients/guidelines/ovarian/index.html

As you no doubt know, peritoneal cancer (in women) is treated the same as ovarian cancer, and these guidelines also discuss peritoneal cancer. I don't know if there's any difference in the treatment of peritoneal cancer in men. These patient guidelines spell out what I understand to be the gold standard in the U.S. for PPC treatment. It can be a little complicated to follow all the different treatment protocols, but I have found the guidelines very useful.

If you go to the main NCCN site http://www.nccn.org/index.asp and look under Guidelines, you will see there are also treatment guidelines for physicians as well as much more useful information. As you'll see from the site, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network is comprised of the very best cancer hospitals in the U.S.

I can understand how fearful you and your family may be. I was shocked and devastated when my PPC was diagnosed. However, I have responded very well to treatment and am happy to be doing well today. FYI, I've been writing about my treatment experiences at www.CaringBridge.org/visit/CaroleSeaton

Good luck to your dad and your family.