Hi Sophia

The fluid is called ascites there's more information about it and what causes it here www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../about-fluid-in-abdomen

When my wife was first diagnosed with her cancer she had an awful struggle with ascites. Like your mother she had many litres drained. The doctors didn't want to drain too much as they were worried it would drop her blood pressure too much but the rate of production was so high. Sounds like your mother has a similar problem. Towards the end it even fot into her chest cavity and she had a pleural effusion which is pretty dangerous and had to have that drained - much more painful.

The good news is that it got under control when they got her well enough to start chemotherapy. The chemo stopped the ascites and it never came back significantly.

Now stomach cancer is nasty there's no denying that and the majority of people dignosed are like your mother diagnosed only after it has spread. There are an awful lot of people like me who have stomach issues after 40 or so it's really common and spotting those with cancer or pre-cancer is really hard.

Thing is that whilst the ascites could be a threat to her right now she's still treatable and a bit under half of the people with stomach make a year and 20% or so do better than 5 years. It all depends on how well she responds to treatment. There are people on htis forum who have been fighting "terminal" diagnoses for many years.

So don't think terminal yet - that's normally when someone has stopped responding to treatment and has only a short time left - think incurable.

Focus on getting the ascites under control and stopping the spread of the cancer and then focus on spending the time you have left with your mother wisely and well. Right now she'll be worried to death about her condition but moreover she'll be worried about you - show her how well you can cope without her.

After my wife's first round of chemo we managed an exotic holiday and those are some of my most treasured memories. Now you may not be quite so lucky but remember its not the number of days it's what you get to do in them that counts