Would someone please level with me??

Adoneyhue · New User Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 1

Hello,

My grandmother, who is 82 (83 this June) was generally quite healthy until she started experiencing belly pain about 2 months ago. Everyone thought gallbaldder....About 3-4 weeks ago she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They went in laparsopically and found it has spread to the liver. Surgery is no longer an option. Today they said she will need to go for chemo AND radiation 5 days a week for the next 4 weeks but arent saying much else. I appreciate the doctors being quite positive, etc. But I would really prefer someone to level with us.

What is her realistic chances of survival? Actually, I know the answer is 0%, but nobody is giving us a general idea of how much time we are looking at of still having her with us. Would someobody please level with us? I have done the research and read the averages, but what are some positive or negative things regarding my grammy regarding her life expectancy? Also, can this actually be done and reduce her pain? I understand the more this disease spreads the more painful it becomes. Can they really make this pain much easier?

I appreciate any help and God Bless all those and the families going through this and those trying to help them.

ADoneyhue

rlee · Site Admin Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 245

ADoneyhue,
Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is difficult to treat. At this stage, it is incurable. Depending on your mother's current health state, stage IV pancreatic cancer has a limited prognosis in the area of 6mo. Chemo can improve symptoms and maybe time. Keep working with the medical team to address her pain by all modalities. Best wishes,
_________________
RLee, MD

Any information provided is NOT intended to provide specific medical advice to users but rather to provide users with information to help them better understand their health condition and related care. All readers are strongly encouraged to consult with a qualified physician for answers to their personal medical questions.

philplop · New User Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 2

adoneyhue

in my experience of PC when the patients cancer has spread to liver things are quicker than 6 mo, however i am not a doctor. not to say she won't have longer i would assume a few months and spend quality time together. on a positive note... good they are doing chemo/radiotherapy. this will help control growth and hence pain. however, after a short time of treatment you may conclude that their side affects are making your mothers time worse than simply the progression of the disease alone. As the disease spreads after treatment the resulting symptoms of possibly sickness restlessness and pain are all controlable. Possibly more controlable than sickness and fatigue of chemo. Not that i am discouraging you from chemo/radio... i just want to say its a tough ride but managable. there will be highs and lows.
any questions just ask.

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