Mesothelioma Cancer

asbestos,mesothelioma,rare,uncommon,asbestosis,6.36,mesothelium

Earlier this week my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and he also has a tumor in his armpit and some kind of growth in his back near the spine. I have experience that sometimes the doctors here are not honest about how serious someone’s cancer is, they may not tell you it’s terminal right away. I was looking online, but I’m not sure, it seems like stage IVB to me. Is this so?

doctor says only chemotherapy is an option, this is treatable, not curable. how long does my father have?

Stage 4 pancreatic cancer can be divided into two stages.Stage IVa is when the cancer is locally confined but involves adjacent organs or blood vessels making it impossible to surgically remove.StageIV b is metastatic disease,where the cancer has spread to other organs usually the liver.Stage IVa patients can be given a disease free period that can last months to years but,they definitely will not be cured.IVb patients the goal is to help the symptoms and alleviate pain as well as maintain nutrition..Chemo therapy,palliative surgery or chemo/radiation is usually used in stage IVa patients if the performance status of the patient is good.Gemzar is usually the standard drug.IVb there are several procedures that are used to help alleviate pain.There are some clinical trials looking at biological therapy,gene therapy and photo dynamic therapy.Unfortunately,not much progress has been made with this particular cancer.

Stage 4 pancreatic cancer can be divided into two stages.Stage IVa is when the cancer is locally confined but involves adjacent organs or blood vessels making it impossible to surgically remove.StageIV b is metastatic disease,where the cancer has spread to other organs usually the liver.Stage IVa patients can be given a disease free period that can last months to years but,they definitely will not be cured.IVb patients the goal is to help the symptoms and alleviate pain as well as maintain nutrition..Chemo therapy,palliative surgery or chemo/radiation is usually used in stage IVa patients if the performance status of the patient is good.Gemzar is usually the standard drug.IVb there are several procedures that are used to help alleviate pain.There are some clinical trials looking at biological therapy,gene therapy and photo dynamic therapy.Unfortunately,not much progress has been made with this particular cancer.

My aunt was diagnosed in January, I knew in early december, she looked like she was pregnant and she was having all the symtoms starting in november she has lost 23 lbs in a month, she cant eat much, and has bad intestonal symtoms. She has started chemo and is in a clinical trial but I feel that this will only take away from her QUALITY of LIFE. She has hope, and is very strong. My question given all the information I have supplied HOW LONG DOES SHE HAVE?