Can someone educate me about cancer

[Notonaschoolnight]

So family member diagnosed Jan this year with stage 4 pancreatic cancer spread to three other places she was told she'd prob had it six months to get to that stage so now we're 4 months on and with regular blood tests to check, the cancer has hardly worsened in the last four months, I'm surprised in my naivety I thought it would get gradually worse each check so how does it all work does it stop/start?

It's a parasite in behaviour, it creeps and slows and speeds up at will, is she having any treatment at all ? If so it may be cocooning the cancer cells slowing growth. It's a crap evil bastard sorry you're going through this
My bf has stage 4 and has rotating chemo, bone injections and heseptin to keep the bastard in check.

Hi! Cancer pro here, sadly. Do you know the type of pancreatic cancer it is? Adenocarcinoma or neuroendocrine. Did they do more than one biopsy. It is very tricky to diagnose. Do you have more information on the tumour itself?

Most pancreatic cancers are aggressive by the time they are discovered. Rarely they are slow growing and manageable. But it really depends on what type of tumour it is. Neuroendocrine is mostly much less aggressive. Autoimmune pancreatitis mimics adenocarcinoma to a T. It's really important to check for this. And it's very difficult to diagnose. But an autoimmune disorder is waaay more preferable to cancer, especially pancreatic cancer, the beast of them all. So it would be interesting to know if she's had a recent CA 19-9 (tumour marker blood test) done and what the reading was (is she having any treatment?) and if they've explored the possibility of it being an autoimmune pancreatitis rather than a cancer.

My FIL had pancreatic cancer - he was diagnosed two years before he eventually passed away - which is in terms of pancreatic cancer very good (obviously there are even better odds out there but regrettably for this cancer not so many) He had treatment during that time and his cancer was also slow at times at growing but then....

for your relative and you (and other family members) it is a horrible disease.

Notonaschoolnight sorry to sound so clinical and dull. I have a family member with it as well. We've had so many cancers in my family.
to you. And Myrtle . I like your username by the way myrtlewilson.

Thank you everyone for replying I'm going to screenshot all this and show oh, she was offered a biopsy in Jan to work out what cancer she had and what treatment she would need but was also informed that a biopsy can trigger its own problems and also treatment would only give her a 20% chance of gaining an additional two months so she declined the biopsy and treatment and with those odds none of us could blame her

Bless your friend. My counsellor tells me that choosing no further treatment should be treated as an active choice, it is choosing a pathway on the basis of perceived quality of life. It sounds like your friend is doing well at the moment, no prognosis is set in stone, it's about enjoying this time the best she can.

For the last months her medication has just been oramorph and appropriate anti sickness but it's no longer enough someone prescribed tablet morphine but the correct amount together with correct anti sickness isn't quite sorted yet plus we've discovered her feeling lousy this week is because she's been accidentally overdosing on cocodamol as her morphine level hasn't been enough but hopefully in a couple of days everything will be back on track

Hi Not on a,

My mum passed away in jan from pancreatic cancer. She had chemo for 5 months which appeared to keep it at bay but then it suddenly stopped responding and it was downhill very quickly from there. She had spinal mets which became very very painful for the last weeks. The things I wished I'd pushed on are long term bisphosphonates and a spinal block as these might have made things better rather than a morphine induced fog of pain.
Also other practicalities:
Macmillan nurse?
Daycare at local hospice? Will also help manage drugs and then theyre known to them if need short term pain control / end of life care.
Local Marie curie centre? Will offer things like art therapy, Pilates, coffee.
Hope this helps and sending love and strength.

Again thanks everyone I admit I don't know what a lot of the terminology is but I'm going to educate myself now as I'm sure it's all good to know

Frazzle as far as I know it was mentioned for Macmillan to be contacted this week and nurse also mentioned a one off visit to local hospice to see if she would want to die there or at home , I'll be honest I struggle to get my head round the last one on many levels

A close family friend has pancreatic cancer. It spread to her chest and neck (two lumps not attached to anything) and it broke through to her stomach. She was not told a time frame as the consultant wanted her to fight. She was given one type of chemotherapy which didn't work and then had another type and radiotherapy.

That finished 5 years ago. Her cancer isn't doing anything. It's still there but hasn't spread anymore. She later found out that people with her type of cancer generally only live 6 months after diagnosis. Her consultant also has someone who lived 14 years + on his books.

Both my grandparents died within weeks of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. If it's not moving/worsening, that's fantastic (under the circumstances). It's so hard to come to terms with something like this, hope the pain meds are soon sorted.