Cancer of the small intestine

things will get better soon
Geri, take heart. Only one chemo to go. After that, your guy will slowly regain strength and get back in the swing of things.

I take care of my elderly mother, who is soooo jealous of her friend who underwent chemo for intestinal cancer in 2009, the same year she had chemo for ovarian cancer. Her friend is still getting clear CT scans, while mom has not been so lucky.

Home you finish chemo and enjoy a strong recovery, just like my mother's friend.

Never feel like you are in it alone...
I am going through more emotions than I thought were possible, fear being the biggest one. Don had chemo/radiation, pacemaker replacement, surgery for colon resection, perm. colostomy and rectum removal and is now in second round of chemo. All since 12/30 of 2010. We have had so many ups and downs that we don't get excited any more when something changes. We just suck it up and go with the flow, for the most part. But the emotions are always "boiling" in the back ground, no matter what's going on.

I found this site and many times it has helped me get through another episode of "Lord knows what's next". The main thing that has helped me is saying it out loud. Sometimes I feel like my questions are stupid and my comments may not be relavent, but I sure feel good asking and commenting. And, so far, no one here has been judgmental. Only supportive!

God's Speed.
Deb

Geri1959 said:

Cancer of the small intestine
Many thanks for all the replys they mean so much to me, I feel like I am drowing.
When I see my husband so sick and there is nothing I can do,I feel like my life is on hold and it is so hard we can not plan anything, and I am a planner, I just wish I knew more I hope when we are done our last chemo, that they give him a rest to build up his body... I live for the days when he feels good :-)

Colorectal board
Geri, I'm hoping you are posting to the colorectal board, also. I'm sure there is a lot of good information and wisdom out there for you and your husband.

I know this is hard and, yes, you feel like the world has (or should) come to a standstill while you deal with this cancer thing.

Drowning - no doubt you are. Emotions and new knowledge and the unknown.

And, like you, I am a planner and all you can plan while you are going through the treatments is the next treatment. It just about drove me crazy not knowing what the future held but then one day I realized I never really knew, anyway.

Come back and let us know how things are going for you and your husband.

Hugs!

Geri1959 said:

small bowel cancer (adenocarcinoma)
Hi Jim.
My Husband has small bowel cancer (adenocarcinoma) the doctors told us it was rare and he had not seen this type he is treating him the same as he would someone who has colon cancer, he was diagnosed in November 2010 with Chrons, they did all sorts of test and they told us they did not see any signs of cancer. In April 2011 he ended up having emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction, before, the operation they did more test all came back great, the operation was done and very successful they said all is good, three doctors told us he is very healthy they all describe his insides liver, hearth, lungs, kidneys are that of a Yonge man

Then 6 weeks later they told us that he has cancer stage4, the surgeon said had he of know he would have done a different operation, but now it is too late to do any other operations, the chrons specialist was so upset that he never seen the cancer… my husband has had 5 chemo treatments out of 6, he has very bad cramps from another small bowel obstruction so he take perks for the pain , he has very bad diarrhea and has lost 10lbs, but he has not lost any hair, which makes him so very happy. I am not sure of the name of the drugs, we go for chemo every two weeks, and then 2 days later a nurse comes to our house to remove a bottle
We live in Ontario Canada, I will find out what drugs he is on, this journey is so hard and I am only at the start I am terrified of the rest of this journey we are on. I am so very grateful for this foram.

Hi Geri
Thanks for the info - it helps eveyone here to post better I think.
I have lymphoma but during my first treatment and a second biopsy they diagnosed
me with adenocarcinoma also.

I was told in the hospital room with about 15 oncologists (teaching hospital) standing
around my bed which was intimidating. Of course I was stunned to find out (then) I'm dealing with two cancers (oh boy). I just looked up at the one speaking and said, "Okay, I guess we need to deal with this also. I guess we can start by charging all you in here
admission for this show today to help pay for it (wink)."

Soonafter I had surgery to remove about 7 inches of my small intestine and a six week recovery from that before resuming chemo for the lymphoma. Later the pathology report
from the removed tissues didn't reveal adenocarcinoma so they think they were wrong
on the diagnosis so I'm back to dealing with the one cancer (lymphoma). I have felt
so much better GI wise since the surgery (won't go into those nasty details). I had
two ulcers and tumors in the part of the small intestine they removed which nearly
killed me with internal bleeding back in March 2011. The surgery was a good thing even
if there was a misdiagnosis and I'm thankful for that.

I will start my last chemo cycle Oct 5th (yay!) and my last pet scan was clear so I'm doing
very well at this point. I'm very thankful for this and mention it because I'm proof
wonderful things can happen and HOPE is alive and well here. Many others here
can tell you the same thing.

Learn all you can but beware of what's on the internet and treat statistics with a grain of salt. There's so much junk out there and good information. There will be many people
here to offer support to you both.

I wish you both the best.

Warmest hugs,

Jim

Geri
Iam new in this page ,I feel I need to talk to somebody that is having a similar problem ,I feel so sad my husband is 52 withT The dDx of Cancer in the Small intestine
just had the debulking surgery with Dr Sugarbaker in Washington DC ,
there are many days I dont know how to help my husband anymore .
Thank you
Cristina Isabel

Geri
Iam new in this page ,I feel I need to talk to somebody that is having a similar problem ,I feel so sad my husband is 52 withT The dDx of Cancer in the Small intestine
just had the debulking surgery with Dr Sugarbaker in Washington DC ,
there are many days I dont know how to help my husband anymore .
Thank you
Cristina Isabel

Geri
Iam new in this page ,I feel I need to talk to somebody that is having a similar problem ,I feel so sad my husband is 52 withT The dDx of Cancer in the Small intestine
just had the debulking surgery with Dr Sugarbaker in Washington DC ,
there are many days I dont know how to help my husband anymore .
Thank you
Cristina Isabel

Geri
Iam new in this page ,I feel I need to talk to somebody that is having a similar problem ,I feel so sad my husband is 52 withT The dDx of Cancer in the Small intestine
just had the debulking surgery with Dr Sugarbaker in Washington DC ,
there are many days I dont know how to help my husband anymore .
Thank you
Cristina Isabel

similar situation - like to talk to others
I am 63 year old male living in Toronto Canada.
I was diagnosed in May 2012. I had the first warning sign when I got deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in January - this turned into a pulmonary embollisim. My low hemaglobin sent them looking for Cancer and I had an upper GI and Colonoscopy both of which were clear. They considered an abdominal scan but didn't do it ("In my 40 years I have only had one that was positive" said the doctor). Actually he has had at least two one he got and me he missed. In May I was back in the hospital after a second set of blood clots and a second pullomanary embollisim. My body was telling them something.
I had the surgery June 1. I had a resection of the small bowel. They removed a 6.5 cm tumour which was maglnant. It is termed an aggressive variant of macropapilliary adenocarcenoma in the small bowel. (4th section of the dudodema). The margins were clear in the resection but the circumference of the tumour ill defined. I am in stage 3a - Spread to one lymph node.
During surgery only 3 lymph nodes were taken out. The surgeon said the others were too close to viens that feed the small intestine with blood and an error could be fatal.
I am surprised that in the US it seems that removal of lymph nodes seemed more prevalent. Certianly I would have preferred that. I am going for a second opinion surgical consult to see if more can be removed. As what I read about the efficay of Folfoxchemo therapy is not encouraging. One study I saw said it was 'sucessful' in 13% of cases - success being defined as prolonging expectancy by 12-14 months.
I also find it disconcertuing that there seems to be no way of knowing whether the chemo is actualling killing the microscopic cells, so a rational decision as to whether to continue with chemo is impossible.
I had a second CT scan which showed a suspicious 1.6 cm soft tissue nodual which is spread of cancer. If I am extremely lucky it could be post surgical trauma.
I started my Folfox chem on Thursday and wore the chemo bag fannie pack for two days which nas now been disconnected. I have had no side effects yet (accept for the occassional hicup spells) but have been told 5-7 days from the initial chemo is the time the side effects of nausea etc. may materialize.
The second difference I see from a lot of the posts is that radiation is used in the US but not here - too much danger of hitting and damaging other organs I was told.

My husband is having a tough time coping with everything so has had to stop working as well.

Please stay in touch.
carl