Having had a suspicion, my worst fears were confirmed just over a week ago when I was informed that a malignant tumour had been detected in my father's stomach. 

Around June/July he had started experiencing unusual digestive issues and pain around his ribs. Initially, it was suspected that he had a stomach ulcer, but I wasn't completely convinced because from my perspective his symptoms didn't quite fit. Alarm bells were ringing.

At the beginning of September, a referral was made for an ultrasound. My father was told a solid "space" had been detected in his stomach, and that a CT scan would be required.

The CT scan (12th September) detected a malignant tumour, but appeared to be contained, and didn't appear to have spread to other organs. My dad was told he would need a gastroscopy to determine if it could be surgically removed, as there was blood (I'm assuming blood vessels) running through it.

During the gastroscopy (19th September), nodules were detected at the bottom of my dad's stomach, along with a shadow on his liver. I believe four attempts had been made to take a biopsy (not sure if these were from the tumour or the nodules), but each attempt resulted in internal bleeding, and I think it was decided that it was too risky to continue. Therefore, the size of the sample taken for biopsy was a lot smaller than the medical team would have ideally liked.

The next step is for my dad to meet with the cancer team at a different hospital, and be assigned a consultant. I believe this is due to take place on 1st October, but I could be mistaken. Currently, we are all in limbo, as although we have the diagnosis, we don't know any more than that.