Dad's cancer treatment

Hi

My dad is 76 yrs old and was diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer back in March this year. He has become anaemic becuase of the tumour bleeding and regularly needs blood transfusions. He has yet to start any cancer treatment apart from one hit of radiotherapy to try and control the bleed. 

We have an appointment with the oncologist later today to see if a curative pathway is still feasible. We know they have been hinting at palliative due to concerns about dad's fitness etc. However, we feel we have not even started any fight yet but I'm preparing myself for the worse and concerned about how my dad and mum will be after as they were insolable after the last appointment when they were told that the curative road seems unlikely but not off the table yet. 

I'm trying to keep it together and be strong for them both so any advice or words of comfort will be appreciated

  • I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad.  It's so hard to understand i treatment but maybe I can help a little.  My husband was diagnosed aged 70 with incurable lung cancer but he was fit enough to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy, except when his blood were not good enough.  So you have to understand that even with cancer you need to have a level of fitness to cope with treatment, this is why bloods are done every three weeks before any treatment.  So when he was not fit enough to have his immunotherapy all treatment was stopped and its then a case of palliative care to keep that person comfortable and not in pain.  We can only fight for our loved ones to a certain point and if the treatment is worse than the cure life becomes unbearable.  Just support them both as much as you can and use all the resources offered to help them cope.  Best wishes to you all, Carol 

  • Thank you for your advice, its much appreciated. Just came back from the Oncologist and the good news is they are prepared to start chemo for my dad so we just need to wait and see how we go!

  • That's really good news, pleased to hear I have been of help. Carol