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DAVID - MY DAD


Male, 54 years, dx Sept '00, Posted bio Jan '01 My Dad started going to the Dr in Jan '00 with general stomach complaints (loose bowels, indigestion, etc.). His Dr was treating him for possible ulcers and checked for colon cancer (his mother had it). They still hadn't found anything by July but due to his drastic weight loss (healthy weight of 185 lbs down to 140 lbs at that time) the Dr was starting to do more tests to see what the problem was. Through all of this...the only time my Dad had pain was for about 2 weeks in Feb. '00 the rest of the time he had alternating good days and upset stomach days. They finally did an ultrasound in July and saw something unusual on the pancreas. By the middle of August he suddenly went jaundiced, they did a CT scan then...he was jaundiced (itchy, ill, unable to sleep, and weak) for 3 weeks before they had the results of the scan, saw a mass blocking the bile duct, and went in with a ERCP to put in a stent and take a tissue sample. We found out at beginning of Sept that it was andocarcenoma pc. We live in Canada and were not happy with how slow all of the tests were being preformed so we sent him to Mayo Clinic in AZ to see if it was operable. They did a MRI there and determined it was inoperable due to vein involvement, mets to liver, and mets to close lymph nodes. He came home and tried one treatment of Gemzar in late Oct '00 (it took a month to convince Dr here to give it to him) but it made him terribly ill and he lost another 10 lbs in a week. At this point he physically could not handle any other invasive medications. Due to a few internal infections and recurring jaundice he has since had his stent redone a few times and now has a metal one. Other than the initial pain if Feb., he has only had pain after chemo and on one other occasion. If he was not so terribly thin and weak right now he is feeling OK in every other way. He is currently taking enzymes, Essiac, Oncolyn, Acidopholis. His current weight is 121 lbs. He continues to cook, drive, visit friends, and do small mechanical jobs, and help my Mom at her business.

Posted 01/26/2001 02:11 pm by Lisa L
E-mail Address: tansmom@home.com

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