Replies

I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Stomach Cancer three years ago and went through treatment that has, so far, been very successful so I will comment.

I was diagnosed at 70. Toby is ten years younger. Most Stomach Cancer is found at 60 to 80 years of age. When it was more prevalent in the age of more smoked meats, nicotine, chewing tobacco, cured meats and less refrigeration we had more deaths but still about the same age average for diagnosis as it is stealthy in its early stages.

It is still prevalent enough to warrant upper GI in Asia so it is found earlier there. Specific causes are not fully understood.

As a Gastric Cancer it is related to Pancreatic, Liver and Spleen tumors and gets out of hand due to late discovery.

I went through a three stage process which I imagine is now pretty standardized as it was beginning adoption about four years ago.

First cycle is Port Infusion Chemo with a four chemical combination they refer to as F. L. O. T. which stands for the generic names of the cocktail ingredients. If you are deemed strong, you get stronger doses. My Oncology team hit me with the max. At the same time they early on do laparoscopic, and other, exams to see if the cancer is through the wall of the stomach into the abdominal cavity or nearby organs.

Second. After that three months, they let you rest up for six weeks or so and then they remove your entire stomach in many cases along with ten to twenty surrounding lymph nodes in your abdomen.

Third, they see how you do from that, which may turn you into a concentration camp survivor (my case 80 pound weight loss), they measure the permanent damage from chemo and determine what chemo you can take for a second round with the goal of killing all the tiny demon metastasizing cells that might still lurk. I was blest in stage two and pathology could find no live cancer — tumors were gone and they gave me what is called a “Path C/R” meaning I had shown a complete response to my first rounds of Chemo,

The old statistics say 4 to 6% are as blessed as I at the five year mark but these statistics were formed prior to RGB, KC Burke, Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson and Honor Health Oncology changed the world of Gastric Cancers after 2015.

Nerves in my hands and feet are permanently 70% dead but I can still drive, type, tie a monofilament line and other thing requiring fine motor skills to a good degree. I hope Toby is as blessed. My tumor was 3(b), friable, 1.25 inch by 2” fully adhered to the stomach wall and bleeding internally,