My husband was dx with gastric cancer in Jan.  It had already spread to his liver and nodes and chest and pelvic area.  He has been receiving treatment every 3 weeks and has gotten worse by the day.  He now sleeps 18 to 20 hours a day and is in pain all the time.  I keep asking his MD if we should keep going through with the treatments and he wants to keep going for another month and get another PET scan.  Is there any posibility the tumors are shrinking even though his health continues to go down hill daily
Hi, Thanks for writing in. If your husband had cancer involving the stomach and which has spread to liver, nodes, chest and pelvis then he is having stage 4 cancer. This is advanced stage of disease and probably the reason for his pain and discomfort. His sleeps most of the time to avoid the physical pain he is in. Treatment is with chemotherapy and radiation therapy depending on his cancer spread. It is possible that the cancer treatment is also affecting the general health condition of your husband. Cancer treating chemotherapy medicines are powerful and destroy cancer cells by interfering in cell growth. It is possible that the cancer areas are reducing, and the medicines are causing adverse effects on normal cells causing deterioration in health. Please provide him adequate nutrition and pain relief to fight his battle against cancer.