I have been lurking on the boards for a few months now, but finally feel the need to reach out. My dad was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer on 6/6/18, and began Folfox+Avastin treatments 6/11/18. He lives in a very small, rural town which has one oncologist who works at their hospital. From the beginning, this doctor told my father that he could choose to try chemo, or do nothing. My dad (who is a young 77) chose the chemo. I encouraged him to seek a 2nd opinion at MDA, and we are here right now. The oncologist that met with us today, told my father he should stop all treatment because his health is continuing to decline (weight loss, loss of appetite, fatigue). Even though some physical symptoms have resolved (ascites), the fact that my father doesn’t “rebound” from the side effects (stated above) means either the cancer is still spreading or the chemo is too toxic for body. Regardless of which one, his health is continuing to decline. He said at this rate that doing nothing may give him 4-6 months, versus maybe 9-12 months with the chemo. My dad asked about restarting the chemo if during this chemo break his symptoms improved. The doctor said we are still looking at a short term survival, and not years like we were hoping for. We are numb...not from the known reality of this awful disease, but from the starkness of his words. I know many of you here have been in situations like this, or worse. How did you handle this type of news, or even begin to process it? This really sucks
K