she has been a close family friend for over 20 years.. the news was she has a 9cm cancerous tumer in her stomach thats spred to her lungs.. all i know is that she will be having chemo.. can this cure her or will it get worse??? is
2006-11-27 06:24:29 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Cancer
she is a fit and healthy.. gave up smoking about 10 years ago only smoked about 10 a day and she is 48 years old..
2006-11-27 06:30:31 · update #1
I am so sorry to hear about your family friend and hope you are providing support and understandin right now....the fact that she has secondarys (the cancer has spread to another part of the body) is , I will be honest, worrying. I know how awful this illness can be and how devastating it can be especially when the person has been healthy....my dad got cancer...he didn;t smoke, he was active and healthy....by the time he was diagnosed he had secondarys. The chemo might be there to ease the side effects rather than cure or extend life...she needs to know which it is in her case....my thoughts are with your friend and all who love her right now...I do wish you well and hope that any news she has is positive. Keep us updated? and if you need to chat...feel free to mail me
2006-11-28 00:11:22 · answer #1 · answered by widow_purple 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My teenage son had a primary abdominal sarcoma that was 19cm that had multiplied throughout the abdomen, seeded hundreds of tiny tumors onto the diaphragm, spred through the lympth nodes, to spots on the lungs and chest wall.
That was 20 months ago. He had high dose chemotherapy, debulking surgery, more chemo, cytoreductive surgery and hypthermic chemoperfusion, and more chemo. He now has 2 small nodules (about 1 cm) left on the top of his liver that is being treated.
So, you see he has come a long way! And, he feels well and has excellent quality of life.
No one can answer how your close friend will do. Much depends upon her age, overall health and the response her body has to treatment. She balances on the edge of a knife . . and could fall either way. The best thing to do is to become thourougly educated about all treatment options, find a doctor she trusts completely, and fight the cancer. It's really, really hard, but people do it more than anyone realizes.
Stay strong!
2006-11-27 09:11:20 · answer #2 · answered by Panda 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I know it is nice to say she will survive, but being harsh, the reality is that this disease will take her. A 9cm gastric tumour is very large, and is unlikely to be a GIST or tumour of low malignant potential if it has spread to her lungs. The only way to effect a cure for stomach tumours is to resect the primary lesion, and occassionally surgically resect the secondaries, but this is immensely difficult with the lungs, and the sheer size of the primary is likely to render this impossible.
The only possible positive is that this could be a lymphoma, which can respond well to chemotherapy, otherwise the chemo will be an attempt at slowing the progression of the disease.
Be a good friend, don't let this affect you, and keep talking about the gossip, the day to day things you take forgranted and hold her hand when it's tough for her. Take care. x
2006-11-28 03:56:32 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
As someone who's 'been there done that' with surgery, radio & chemotherapies....I'm alive - 12 years on so it is NOT a death sentence.
Chemo is normally a series of radical drug therpapies. It CAN make the person physically worse...yet be SUCESSFULLY killing the cancer. In a nutshell, it's purpose is to 'kill the cancer before it kills the patient' so doctors work out dosages VERY carefully!
The majority of them work by killing cells 'in mytosis' or as the divide, cancer cells usually divide more rapidly than normal cells so this treatment overtakes the growth. It CAN also kill off any rapidly replaced cells in the body - these are side effects. Hair growth, mouth/gums & stomach lining and sometimes affected...but these can recover better than the cancer to a normal state.
I won't make light of the situation, stomach cancers & lung cancers CAN spread quickly if left untreated & they were aggresive varients. My old boss had / has a cancerous lump in one lung - he had chemo & is now in remission (lump still there), on the other hand a young guy (30's) I was in hospital with wasn't so fortunate.
There is no rule - it's down to the bodies natural defenses, it's ability to cope with chemo (really NASTY chemicals) and MAJORLY the persons mental attitude, and the support of others.
ALWAYS look to the positives whilst acknowledging the other possibilities - this is STILL your FRIEND - treat them like one - KEEP visiting - KEEP laughing...just BE THERE!!
2006-11-27 07:18:45 · answer #4 · answered by creviazuk 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
When I was 20 yrs old I was diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer. My whole family was devastated and thinking the worst. I was a single mom with a lil girl and wasn't about to let cancer take me away from her. I went through 2 surgeries 36 rounds of radiation treatments and many rounds of chemotherapy. Due to the radiation treatments doctors told me I would never be able to conceive a child again. Well, I'm now 32 yrs old with 2 children and another on the way. I proved the doctors wrong and overcame the cancer. It never reappeared again, docs couldn't believe it.
So my advise to you is to not be full of fear, but full of hope. Cancer does not mean the end of life, it just means the beginning of a long fight. Chemo will help get rid of the cancer, but it is very hard on the body. Be there for her and help her out in every way, she will need it. Good luck and god bless.
2006-11-27 06:41:33 · answer #5 · answered by skybluebabyboo 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.Because she has cancer,it doesn't mean she's going to die.There is a lot of wonderful things happening in the world of cancer.Doctors are making more and more breakthroughs.
She will most probably suffer a great deal,but chemotherapy has come a long way,and the techniques are advancing rapidly.
You and your friend need to have faith.
She may never fully recover,but some health is better than none at all.
As long as she has friends around her,like you and your parents,she'll definitely have something to fight for.
2006-11-27 06:33:43 · answer #6 · answered by nicky dakiamadnat600bugmunchsqig 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
To be honest,it is uncertain. But survival rates are much higher for cancer now-so stay positive! The chemo will more than likely make her feel tired and ill-that is a common side effect. Just be there for her-be supportive and positive. A positive outlook is very important in aiding recovery!
2006-11-27 06:30:29 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No one knows for sure. I caught my cancer at stage 1, I was lucky. I had it removed and no lymph node involvement but still had to have chemo. All l can say is be there, be a friend and let her know you'll be there if and when she needs you. She will be very, very sick over the next few months while undergoing chemo, but just be the friend you've always been and she'll appreciate it.
2006-11-27 06:27:46 · answer #8 · answered by Betty Boop 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Greeks have an fairly good custom that has truly inspired me. might want to someone die in any relations no matter if or not that is chum or relations it really is open abode for anybody, it really is time-honored to go back and produce foodstuff or a field of espresso, or a bottle of brandy and stay round until eventually evening fall.(it truly is then fed on through all in attendance) once giving their condolences to the relations they're there to help and refer to any member of the relations who feels a favor to . also they're there for an added in a deferential and grieving way. The significant different and little ones obligations are taken over through supportive acquaintances and relations.The relations is given the liberty to precise their grief with persevered help until eventually a 12 months passes. So I advise visit and promises your condolences and teach how sorry you're for his loss, then be there as a sturdy chum and pay interest and communicate about although he needs to communicate. easily everyone needs to experience loved exceedingly in cases like those .
2016-10-07 21:05:40 · answer #9 · answered by Erika 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a doctor, but my parents both died of different sorts of cancer.
Some sorts of cancer can be cured.
The situation your friend is in looks bad to me. But then it may be that she responds very well to the chemotherapy, and that could at least delay the growing of the cancer, maybe even stop it.
But you should also be prepared that your friend can die any day, be it, that she doesn't respond to the chemo, be it, that this therapy was started too late.
2006-11-27 06:37:35 · answer #10 · answered by corleone 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋