Hi jalpa.  Sorry to hear of the lady's diagnosis. Diet and moderate exercise are good alongside conventional medicines but will do nothing to control this cancer by themselves.

What makes you think that chemotherapy is painful?  I have had many chemo drugs and have found it manageable with a few niggling side effects but none that I can't manage or control.  I honestly think it is the minority who cannot tolerate treatment and there are many drugs available to control side effects and teams of people to offer support.

Also what about surgery -  have you found a surgeon who could give his opinion after studying the lady's CT scan? Resection or ablation could be a strong possibility.  It is quite simple to surgically remove the gallbladder and recovery is normally straightforward.  Nanoknife is also available privately and this can be used on 'inoperable' tumours which may be abutting the hepatic vascular system.  You can read more about this by googling the princess grace hospital in london.  Hope this information may help you to explore other avenues - just shout if I can help further and don't give up hope x

I'd strongly agree with Max about chemotherapy - it has a bit of a fear factor and reputation it really doesn't deserve.

When my wife went for her first session we had no idea what to expect - she sat in a comfy chair for a few hours and had a drip put in and a small pump put the chemo agents in and after a few hours she was done and we drove home thinking was that it? - a couple of days later she had some mild flu like symptoms for about 24 hours and then was fine for the rest of the month until the next session.

The cancer is a very active set of cells in the body and hte chemo often works by stopping cells dividing - because the cancer does this so much it hurts the cancer more than it hurts the patient - but it does slowly start to affect you and that's where it can start to hit your white blood cells especially.

Because of this having a healthy diet and exercise is always a good idea you'd want to be as fit as you can be so that your body is best able to cope with the cancer.

As concerning getting fit and healthy to fight the cancer - remember that the cancer is part of the patient - getting fit and healthy alone may increase the blood supply to the cancer and make the cancer healthy too!

My wife was 3 years on chemotherapy - those were 3 years that we simply wouldn't have had without chemo - 3 years thanks to Platinum and the Yew tree!

Graham ......I so agree with you  - I have been on chemo weekly for a year and then 3-weekly since June 2012. No doubt that I would not have seen all of 2013 if I had not had chemo.  It really isnt anything to be afraid of and I have had many different drugs as my regime is changed every 8 infusions or so. 

It is really worrying that so many people have this perception of chemotherapy and I wonder how many refuse it because they have heard one or two horror stories.  I can only liken it to when I was pregnant - a couple of people delighted in telling me what a dreadful time they had giving birth and I was petrified!  During labour I kept asking my hubby when he thought things would get really really bad - of course they never did!  Some people are very irresponsible by not thinking about what they say and some just delight in the macabre.  There have been a few instances on the forum when I have cringed at how others have described a loved one's passing, or treatment etc - fully knowing that the forum is used by others who have a terminal diagnosis or are facing treatment.  Well thats my moaning done for today haha!

Your posts are always interesting to read Graham and I admire how you have helped others whilst coping with your own loss.  Your family's situation sounds very similar to what mine are going through now and I just hope my husband is as level-headed as yourself when the time comes for us to say goodbye - I am sure he will be.  Take good care x

The other thing to remember Max is that things have come on a long way - When my wife's mother had her ovarian cancer 30 years ago cis-platin as the first stop which caused people much more nausea and I think she suffered a lot more side effects. Carboplatin is a much gentler alternative and is now the first resort drug. Anti-sickness drugs and steroid and all the others will have improved as well and I dare say there will have been improved transfusion systems and morebesides.

I rather thnk a lot of it may come from the way things were 30 or 40 years ago - that's why its so important that sites like this can help people talk about their experiences 

Hello Japla,

Thank you for posting a question. I am one of the nurses and Lucie our moderator wondered if we might like to reply. I am sorry to learn that your mom’s friend has cancer.

Although there is good evidence to suggest that following a healthy diet and taking exercise can reduce the risk of developing cancer in the first place, there is not strong evidence to suggest that it can treat a cancer that someone already has. So although you will find reports on the internet of various diets helping people with cancer, there is no scientific proof that it does treat the disease. But it is fair to say that eating  a good balanced diet may help people cope with and recover from cancer treatments.

 But for some people eating well might be impossible. For example, when cancer is in the liver it can cause nausea and a lack of appetite. In situations like this it is important  for people to eat what they can in order to try to maintain their weight, even if this involves eating high calorie snacks. As we all know, these snacks are not usually not a good idea.

It does seem like your mom’s friend has quite an extensive cancer. In situations like this treatment options are often quite limited, but as Max suggested your mom’s friend could ask for a second opinion from another specialist. They may say the same as the first, but it can be reassuring to have explored this option.

When someone has an extensive cancer, it is important to balance the side effects of the treatment against the possible benefits. The medical team would have considered this before offering treatment to your mom’s friend. I think that the doctors will be hoping that  the chemotherapy shrinks the cancer and relieves symptoms.  Unfortunately chemotherapy does not work well for everyone, and as it does have side effects sometimes people choose not to have it. But it is important to talk this through with the medical team first to have as much information as possible on which to base the decision.

 It seems that you have had some good information from other forum users about how they managed when they were having chemotherapy treatment and they suggested that it was not as bad as they thought it might be.  Reading the side effects list of most medications can be a little frightening and so I can understand why you are concerned for your mom’s friend. But not everyone will have side effects and if they do occur they may not be severe.

I hope this helps.  Do get back to the nurses directly if you have any other  questions. If you would like to telephone our freephone number is 0808 800 4040. We are here from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am to 5pm.

Best wishes,

Jean