My beloved Jim has passed on

Hi, I don’t post a lot, but read the site daily. My dear husband passed away June 3 from esophageal/stomach cancer at the age of 59. I don’t want to take away any hope from those battling this disease, but thought Jim’s story might help others. He was diagnosed February 2010 with gastric cancer. The mass was at the junction of the stomach and esophagus. He had pre-op chemo, epirubicin, cisplatin and 5fu that he wore 24/7. His pre-op chemo was for 9 weeks. Next he had the Ivor Lewis surgery which he recovered from, very well. The Dr’s said he was stage 3. Of the 25 lymph nodes that were removed, 7 tested positive for cancer (all regional). Next he had another 9 weeks of the same chemo listed above. He had a CT scan in November, after his chemo and it was NED. We were hopeful. Next scan, 3 months later, showed lesions in the liver and an enlarged lymph gland near the pancreas. The oncologist suggested we “wait and watch” and as soon as we noticed any growth in the tumour, then she would start chemo. Well we waited for 2 months, had another CT scan to see if there was any change and found out the cancer had spread to adrenal glands, spleen, pancreas and liver. Two months after that he was gone. This is a very aggressive cancer and when it comes back, it’s back with a vengeance. Thankfully Jim had a very peaceful death, and I was able to care for him in our home. This is a great web site and that helped me tremendously throughout Jim’s journey. I will continue to follow your stories, and if I can jump in with any suggestions, I will. Thanks for listening, Patti