Hello 
My Dad was recently diagnosed with esophagus and stomach cancer (he was already living with prostate cancer) and today we found out that palliative care is our only remaining option. He's fairly well at the moment so we're currently deciding whether to hold off on chemo for the time being to enjoy some better quality of life.
I'm a survivor of childhood non-hodgkin lymphoma myself (diagnosed 30 years ago) so this brings up a lot of previous trauma as well as the current grief and sadness related to my Dad.
I'm lucky to have a brilliant partner and many friends supporting me but, despite my own personal experiences, I've never actually connected with others about cancer before. My partner suggested I look into what support is out there so here I am, introducing myself!
Welcome to our community, I hope you find it both informative and supportive.
I am Steve, one of our community champions and my experience of cancer is via my wife who has Leiomyosarcoma.
Something I found helpful on looking at palative care was the information here where it notes that "For cancer that cannot be cured, you might have palliative care soon after diagnosis. Or at several points throughout your treatment." - my wife's cancer is at least currently incurable but fortunatly for us the last treatment she had managed to render it stable and so now we live with cancer - Jancie says it is not bothering her and she is not bothering it.
You might be interested in quite a good article on Coping with anticipatory grief when you're supporting someone living with cancer
Our Family and friends forum generally sees more traffic that New to the Community forum which is mostly used as a welcome mat. We also have some specalist nurses on here and if you have any technical questions it can be helpful to post in Ask a Nurse .
Do post whenever and remember you are more than welcome to ring the helpline if that mgiht help you.
<<hugs>>
Steve
