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Duodenal Cancer

JTindall25
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Hi to all, 

I have today received news, with a very heavy tired heart, that my mother's cancer is terminal. Just to give some background she was suppose to have parts of several organs either removed or severely shortened and to cut the tumour/cancer away. It was only when they went in to explore that this was not going to be the case and the cancer was inoperable and therefore terminal. She has not had any organs removed as it was not necessary and now I'm waiting for her to recover in the coming days and come home. She is up for chemo in 4-6 weeks but also waiting for scans and histology. I am mortified to say the least. I am also a realist and while I am not looking for a concrete answer on survival rates I would like to hear what you all, if any, can tell me or even if you share your stories to help me understand.

I appreciate all your time. I'm not religious but may god be with us all. 

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    Hi JTindall25 

    I’m so sorry to hear your news. We went through something similar with my dad- he was diagnosed with liver cancer but told they would be able to operate to remove, but some prep scans etc showed the cancer has spread to his bones. Within months we’d gone from having hope to learning it was terminal. It was so hard to understand.

     

    Dad had several rounds of radiotherapy booked in and we were always told that it was palliative and it was to stop it spreading,but Dad ended up in hospital twice after the prognosis was given with other complications. Sadly he passed away last week after being admitted with pneumonia- it wuld have been a common cold for you or I but his body had already been depleted so much. It all happened within 3 months of us being  told it was terminal.

     

    Im not for a second saying it will be 3 months for your Mum at all, everyone is so different and you hear on this forum about people surpassing expectations. I was just so sidelined by how quickly it took hold. All you can do is take it day by day, hold on to hope and realism in equal measure and just spend time with your mum reminiscing.

    Im sorry this isn’t such a positive message but I hope it

    helps to hear another story. 

    LB

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    Hi was wondering how use are. 

    My Dad has recently been diagnosed with this cancer and  we have only been given a option of palliative chemo .Have been told can't give a time scale .

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    Hi,

    First of all, I am sorry to hear about your dad. I lost my dad a few months ago to Duodenal Adenocarcinoma. It started about two years ago with vomiting. Then they found the cancer. He did chemotherapy with a bag that was connected directly connected to his abdomen. We were able to have some nice family time after the chemo as things were quiet for a bit. Remarkably, his dementia seemed to get a bit better and we had some lucid days. Unfortunately, he got very sick. The surgeons drew us the pictures of the reasons that surgery and another bisection  was not possible. I don’t want to be insensitive, but I’m going to mention he had a lot of pain the last few months and I am grateful he is at peace now. The Drs were really vague about prognosis or staging; More vague than they have been about my mother's end stage small cell lung cancer. I wondered if that’s because it is a rarer cancer? Or was it just my dad’s illness factors? 

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