martianbishop are you there please ???

[yorkiemom]

I am so sorry to hassle you, I know your life is busy. I just wondered what you thought of this - follow up to dad having cancer in pancreas and in the liver.
We saw his specialist on Thursday, who has said that because dad is so well !!! he wants to do a biopsy, which will take a couple of weeks. I asked him was he not sure it was cancer then ? He said 99% but before starting chemo wanted to be 100%. Am I crazy to hold on to 1% hope (I am I konw I am !) He then said my dad would have seven weeks chemo, then a week on a week off in definately. We then said so dad could be on chemo for years then? and he said we just keep going with it.
We are all feeling quite positive now, and dad has said he does'nt care if he has to have chemo for the resyt of his life, he will do whatever just to be here- which is hopefully a good attitude to have, he's really positive.
The chemo he will have is gemcetabine- any experience of this ???
I hope your dh is doing well at the moment, and my love and best wishes are certainly with you.
Again I am so sorry to pester you.
All my best wishes xx

Not MB but wishing you and your Dad all the best and bumping this for you.

bumping for you.

bumping cos i know i have seen MB around somewhere!

bump

She was here a few minutes ago, maybe post a hijack there and she'll see it?

Dh had gemcytapine. the main problem for dh was nausea, you will make to make sure that the medics get on top of this for your father , as it can be very debiltating.

In the end dh was so horrifically sick, he would start to feel ill just driving to the hospital. And dh is a very brave guy, he flew fighter jets for a living.

Not trying to put you off, I'm trying to get you 'braced' for the possible side effects.

For dh the drugs stopped working after 8 months of treatment , and this isn't uncommon, some people last longer with it working, some people less, it all depends on how responsive the tumour is to treatment.

The infusion takes about 45 minutes to an hour to run, but be prepared for long waits in the unit, as they are horrifically over worked. He may need to take a packed lunch/ stuff to take his mind of things.

Dh is doing well on the second line treatment they have prescribed him, he is putting units together from Ikea as i type!

Hope all goes well for your dad, and let me know if I can ever be of any help.

Hugs

Thanks everyone. MB thanks very much for your advice, I will certainly keep an eye on the nausea thing. We are hoping it does suit him, and he gets on ok on it. Its hard because he jokes that he's the healthiest bloke around with cancer !! He feels so well at the moment, but I sopose we have to be prepared for the chemo to make him feel crap to start with.
Thanks again, and I hope your units look lovely when your dh has finished putting them together.
Love and best wishes to you, and your family, and thank you again. xx