Posted on 07/17/2009 6:27:48 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When we found out that Patrick Swayze had pancreatic cancer, we thought, “oh no, he won’t be around long.” We thought this because we know the statistics for surviving pancreatic cancer are not good, only thirteen percent. This is not to say that Swayze cannot survive this cancer . He was a healthy, fit, person, who took good care of himself before this diagnosis. Swayze does not fit the mold of a pancreatic cancer patient. Most of these patients are in their 60’s and 70’s, and are usually heavy drinkers, heavy smokers with poor diets that include lots of fats. As far as we know Patrick Swayze did not do any of these things.
There is a new treatment that Swayze is reportedly trying. It is used on inoperable cancers, and reportedly has had success on patients with the same cancer as his. This procedure is called the Cyberknife. This procedure targets the hard to reach tumors with super high amounts of radiation. As you undergo these Cyberknife procedures, you have to be awake and alert and you cannot move. These treatments are known to add years to lives. Patrick is fighting a hard battle, but his doctors are very hopeful.
In other Patrick Swayze news, Radar Online is reporting that the actor was recently seen making a fast food run with his brother. Though still very skinny, Swayze looked to be healtheir and even sported a Goatee.
One of the surgeon's at a hospital I worked at went through the chemo for pancreatic cancer, died 1 year later. But he did continue to work until shortly before he died, mostly as a consultant.. I talked with him when my father was diagnosis with acute leukemia, (dad was in good health and living in an apartment). He suggested no chemo, especially at dads age, that's when he got into a long discussion of his cancer and he was sorry he bothered with the misery of chemo as that type of cancer has no cure rate...Sad. But that was many years ago and they may have made progress with this type of cancer...
My mother died of multiple myloma in the 1960's and they have not made much progress in that type of cancer since then..The survival rate at the time she had her cancer was 5 years....I think that still is the survival rate...For her it was only 2 years..
No. I’ll freepmail you.
Smoking is certainly not helping to prolong his life, which is the goal here, and no respectable doctor would regard it as wise. He’s very lucky to have made it this far.
I do wish him lots of luck....hope they have found something that can help.....
I hope the treatment works for him. He seems like a nice guy. Just staying married to Lisa for over 20 years, in that toxic Hollywood atmosphere, shows he must be.
Got it. Thanks!
What’s all the fuss about whether he smoked. He has pancreatic cancer, not lung cancer. My confirmation sponsor died of pancreatic cancer; ate healthy food, never smoked, was always moderately thin. But he worked at a nuclear lab.
My mother died of multiple myloma in the 1960’s and they have not made much progress in that type of cancer since then.
Things have changed in treating Myloma. New drugs have the ability to put the cancer cells in a state of dormancy. New stem cell transplant techniques (which can be trained) can now offer hope as an immuno treatment (self or blood related donar). New drugs are also in the late testing stages and getting ready for roll out.
I have MGUS (a potential precursor to myloma)...kind of lucky to have that since the chances of getting Myloma are quite low (1% chance per year). For reasons unknown, the MGUS cells never fully mutate to full blown cancer and stay lathargic.
Its strange how some cancers are easily cured and others are stubborn as hell....I wish you all the luck and health in the world...Thank you for the info..
There are good sources of info on Myloma treatments (present and future) from the Huntsman cancer institute, university of Arkansas or the Mayo clinic.
by the way, they’ve made good strides on MS as well using stemcell treatments. some patients are now technicaly “cured” (but still have the genetic markers so must be cautious when having children).
My FIL died of pancreatic cancer five years ago, and at that time the medical establishment said there was no discernible link between heavy drinking and pancreatic cancer. I haven’t read up on it in the five years since, though.
I hope Patrick Swayze does pull through! He was a hottie in his day, and always a fine actor.
It seems to me, maybe we gravitate to this thread so we aren’t representative of the populations, but still it seems to me everyone either has/had cancer or parents have/had cancer. It is surprising to me how much cancer I see. Maybe because I have it. But threads like these where nearly all posters have a connection to this disease really make me wonder.
There’s an awful lot of cancer around. My mother died of ovarian cancer at 67, my husband’s father died of pancreatic cancer in his 60’s, and my MIL died of cancer of the mouth in her sixties also. Very frightening. Though on the other hand, if you live long enough, SOMEthing will get you!
My Dad died at 62 of bile duct adenocarcimona (about the same thing, only not in the pancreas)...in fact they were shocked to find that it didn't originate there. He never drank, and never smoked.
I think that the medical establishment's propensity to blame the victim is a cover for their horrid record in coming up with treatments for some of these cancers. The standard protocol for inoperable pancreatic cancer is the SAME EXACT CHEMO THAT HAS FAILED FOR 40 YEARS....not just chemo in general...the same one: 5-FU; I kid you not.
Out here in "normal land," a 95% failure rate would be shockingly unacceptable for five years...let alone 40. For forty years they have poisoned people (and outright killed some of them) with a drug that they know perfectly well does not work.
Now, they tout a new drug gemcitabine that they combine with 5-FU; they "tout" it although the survival rate is not better. I know that very well; I read through the entire clinical trial report before my Dad signed up for Stage III of said trial. He lived for three months; in misery for most of it because of the chemo.
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