Community Chat

[serenity4ever]

Thanks for the informative thread. Noel. My uncle died from pancreatic cancer a month after he was diagnosed. I just read your posts about a lupus flare. Thinking of you and I am happy to hear that your vision was restored. I have a friend with lupus and I know how difficult it can be.

[hsawaknow]

What are the signs or symptoms with this type of cancer? How can they tell if you have it?

[JaneMarple]

On 3/5/2014 hsawaknow said: What are the signs or symptoms with this type of cancer? How can they tell if you have it?

The sad part is no one knows, in the three cases that I mentioned above, none of them had any symptoms.

[serenity4ever]

On 3/5/2014 hsawaknow said: What are the signs or symptoms with this type of cancer? How can they tell if you have it?

My uncle had pain in the upper abdomen and he lost a great deal of weight before being diagnosed. My aunt told me he had little appetite and had some vomiting after eating. The problem is that can be a sign of various illnesses and that's why often times the diagnosis is late in coming.

[PuppyBreath]

On 3/5/2014 hsawaknow said: What are the signs or symptoms with this type of cancer? How can they tell if you have it?

My husband was being treated for stomach ulcer symptoms, and we have heard that is pretty common. He did have one - it was discovered in the first endoscopy. Months later on a follow up endoscopy the ulcer had suspicious margins which proved to be pancreatic cancer cells. In total he lived 15 months from diagnosis at age 58, with 2 remissions. (Similar to Patrick Swayze, and Michael Landon's timelines)

So, he was diagnosed by an ulcer biopsy, and it was confirmed by a cat scan the next day.

[JaneMarple]

My mother starting getting listless and had a loss of appetite, she didn't have any sort of pain. My ex suggested she see his doctor because her s was telling her that it probably was High blood pressure related. This was in late July.

By the beginning of September she wasn't she wasn't feeling better but weaker. She was unable to have a bowel movement by this point. This time my ex insisted she go to see his doctor and he immediately put her in the hospital. Her eyes were yellow so at first they thought perhaps it was her liver.

She was given the diagnosis three days after entering the hospital and she passed away the following week.

[serenity4ever]

I am so sorry about the death of your beloved husband, PuppyBreath. And Jane the loss of your mom... This disease takes far too many of our loved ones from us.

[JaneMarple]

My MIL was 69, painful enough but my BIL and cousin's husband both died in their early 50s. My BIL lived several months after his diagnosis but my cousin's husband was experiencing pain and they admitted him to the hospital for tests and by the end of the week he was gone.

I'm really hoping that a cure will be found very soon.

[WSfan]

On 3/5/2014 hsawaknow said: What are the signs or symptoms with this type of cancer? How can they tell if you have it?

My grandmother passed away in the early '70's when I was in HS. She was getting blood clots starting in her arm, then in her legs. She was hospitalized several times for this. Between hospitalizations she was losing weight. Again hospitalized for blood clots in her legs, so much so that they were contemplating amputation. She died about 2-2 1/2 months after all this began, not knowing what she died from. They did an autopsy to see why and pancreatic cancer was found. After getting into the medical field, found out that deep vein thrombosis can be a sign of cancer somewhere in the body.

Here in Chicago, our Cardinal just announced a recurrence of his cancer, so that was the topic of conversation around here on radio and TV yesterday. Experts on the radio talking about all you hear is cancer of this, that or the other. He said it has a lot to do with our environment, all the chemicals we ingest in our foods (I'm guessing mostly pre-prepared), and our diet in general. Said that it's not necessary to go all organic, just fresh instead of processed. Very informative.