Mam Newly diagnosed
Hi my mam has just been diagnosed with primary gallbladder cancer and liver metastasis.
She is starting chemo for 3 months in the next few weeks, they’ve said if that doesn’t work they’ll try another round.
nothing was mentioned at the doctors appointment when she was diagnosed about an outlook or a timeline,or if it was pallative however they did mention stage 4, and I suppose I’m just trying to find the positives here but is that a good sign that they are doing the chemo ?
He did say it’s serious, not curable, but treatable .
Sorry if this is a silly question, we are just trying to come to terms and find some glimmer of hope .
Thanks for your help .
Comments
Hi Lisa
I am very sorry to hear of your Mam’s diagnosis. This must have come as an awful shock to you all. Her oncology team will expect the chemotherapy drugs to lessen the amount of cancer in both her gall bladder and liver and would hope that this will prolong her life and maybe give her a better quality of life for some time. Knowing that it is not curable is very hard. Generally a timeline is not discussed unless the patient asks. Telling your Mam that it was incurable was an awful lot for her to take in. Often the best thing to do is to see how she tolerates and responds to the chemotherapy and if she is asking then her doctor can give her his opinion. How well and healthy otherwise the patient is as well as how extensive the disease is will influence his outlook. If you would like to phone us on our support line and speak to a cancer nurse then we can discuss this in greater detail. Our number is 1800 200 700. We can also arrange counselling if you would like. Do phone us too if you would like any of our books such as ‘Lost for Words’
Kind regards
Cancer Nurse
Thanks so much for the reply and thank you for the work you do. I think we will avail of the counselling as we want to help and support her as best we can on her journey . Hoping for a positive outcome 🤞
Hi, it is better that no treatment being offered . My mother was at a late stage when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had a number of different treatments.