dear toron, i just wanted to tell you how sorry i am about your mother-in-law. i don't have any advice, just wanted to tell her i hope very much she gets better. maybe some one else on this site or another cancer site will have some advice. sending you a big hug

hi - just read this on your mother - in - law
my dad (much older - he just turned 85) found out in July that the indigestion and nausea he had was stage 4 stomach cancer. It was all very fast. After building him up, he went through the chemo regemin (sp?) your mil has done. Unfortunately, it did not work and the cancer has continued to grow and increase in numbers. He was planning to try the same second tier that she elected (salvage chemo) but decided this weekend to opt out of it/because he has total blockage of the pyloris, he has been on TPN via infusion therapy since early July. He isn't going to do the salvage chemo, as I said. Gastric cancer does not hold a great prognosis particularly if it has spread to other organs which in his case (and i thought all stage4) it has. So i can't say about the taxoterra (again, spelling from memory) - the side effects your mil is experiencing don't sound real good/my heart goes out to her and to you all. it is a hard cancer. We're talking to hospice tomorrow concerning options. again, my dad is much older than your MIL. I'm closer to your in law's age and I can only imagine if i were the one suffering with this and not my dad who has lived a long healthy and joyous life. but i also know it has made me really think about quality of life and what my thoughts would be if i were ever in this position. i don't have answers - just love - empathy in what you all are going through - prayers/thoughts for a miracle for you. in our case, we are ready to celebrate the good times we've had with my dad and let him go if it is time while still believing perhaps another option we haven't concerned surfaces. God bless/be strong. meese

Hello, I am sending this quite late after your post. How is your mother -in-law doing? My 60 year old husband was just diagnosed with mild St 4 gastric cancer and just completed second chemo using Cisplatin, Taxotere, and 5FU. We are praying for a miracle and doing a very high nutrient diet with some Flor-Essence Tea. I really don't know anyone with this same cancer, I am a nurse myself, and I am just reaching out for info and support.

my best friend was just diagnosed back in march she is in her 30's and has stage 4 gastric cancer, i am a nursing student but don't know much about all of this, she has started chemo and the tumor has shrunk, right now her biggest issue is the pain, she was hospitalized for a good month because of blood clots in her lungs. now that is finally over she is taking on the pain issue, she is usually very holistic when it comes to her lifestyle so getting her to take her morphine as scheduled is hard, she hates the side effects and is afraid they will up her dose, is there anything she could try to help ease the pain that doesn't involve drugs. being a nursing student i know being medication compliant is key to staying on top of the pain. On top of all that she has a 3 month old son, wanting to be there for him makes it hard for her to take pain meds because they make her so "out of it" i have scheduled her to get acupuncture and massage but any other suggestions would surely help