New with questions

[cmendiola]

Hi everyone! my dad has just been diagnosed with stage IIB. We had a resection and they said they got all of the tumor (it was a T4). However, they did say that it basically burst when he was removing it. WTH does that mean? Does that mean that he will likely get stomach cancer? It hadn't spread anywhere else before that. They are recommending Chemo. At first he was ok with the idea until they told us that his portion for one 6 month round will be 34k which we have to come up with 16k before they will even begin. Now he is using it as an excuse to not do chemo.
I have the money and I am applying for programs to assist. -that is not the issue.

I say all of that to ask this.. Has anyone else went through something similar? Do you have any information about likelihood of the cancer still being there. Why are they recommending chemo if they said they got the whole tumor and it hadn't metastasized anywhere else? Should we do the chemo? I don't want to push him to do it if there isn't the need. But, I also don't want to make the wrong decision and forego the chemo and then he ends up in stage 4 because it came back and spread.

side note- on the write up from the surgery it did not indicate that the tumor ruptured. The write up said everything was removed. How weird is that?

[KElizabeth]

Sorry to hear about your Dad's situation. It's awful that you will be responsible for so much of the cost.
There are never any guarantees that even with adjuvant chemotherapy that the cancer won't come back, but it's used because there is evidence that it reduces the chances that it does.
The likelihood that there are cancer cells floating around now that the tumor burst seems high to me. I'm no doctor.
It's worth a good discussion with your father's oncologists .
I'm sure others will chime in with some more useful advice.
~Elizabeth

[Tdubz]

Have you seen an oncologist yet or just the surgeon? If not, see an oncologist and they should be able to give you a lot more info. The point of chemo after surgery is to basically mop up all the microscopic cancer cells that might still be floating around. o had my surgery in April and I'm doing the 6 months of chemo now.

As far as financials go, I believe most oncologists offices will have a financial counselor that can assist you through the process and find available financial aid.

[TXLiz]

I had a complete blockage with a huge tumor.

From my reading, I have read that a ruptured organ (from cancer) does increase the risk of many cancer cells being released from the rupture.

I would make an uneducated guess that a ruptured tumor itself would do the same. Please ask your dad's onc about it. This is a complicated disease with many facets.

If it were my dad, I would have the onc speak with us both about this subject and listen to his recommendations. You can't force your dad to undergo chemo, but if it's highly recommended, I'd ask him to please not worry about the money. Money can't replace people.

Sorry you and your dad are undergoing a cancer diagnosis.

Good luck.

[jhocno197]

A ruptured tumor increases risk of recurrence.

There should definitely be help available for the chemo costs.