Anxiety!! How long to start treatment?

Hi,

Firstly, sorry to hear about your Dad. As you've already noticed a cancer diagnosis impacts the whole family and not just the individual. You have some tough times ahead - but you can get through it!

I can't tell you about "normal" wait times. But I can share my personal experience in the hope that this helps. I am a stomach cancer survivor! My family are stomach cancer survivors...

I first went to see my GP around June 2021 as I was suffering from bad stomach reflux. What with covid and delays I didn't get my first endoscopy until August and initial diagnosis of stomach ulcer was made. I was given the standard triple dose antibiotic and had a follow up endoscopy in September. It was after this that my GP told me that I have "anomalous cells" and I was booked in for a CT scan. Following this we were referred to the local cancer specialist team and it was the next meeting (beginning of October) that confirmed - "yes you have stomach cancer". To be honest the magnitude of this didn't really sink in at that point.

At that point things move fairly swiftly. I had another scan which confirmed that my cancer had not (as far as they can see) spread - end of October. We got to see the oncologist the first week in November and started chemo middle of November.

Cancer journeys are different for different individuals. It depends on the individual and the status of your cancer. Because my cancer had not spread, I had what I think is standard for stomach cancer = 4 sessions (one every 2 weeks) of FLOT chemo. For me this finished just before Christmas. Operation to remove the cancer (and 70% of my stomach and surrounding lymph nodes) was end of Jan. Another 4 sessions (one every 2 weeks) of FLOT chemo finishing end of April. Follow up scan and subsequent "you're all clear and cancer free" was second week in May this year.

If your Dad's cancer is advanced or he is unable to eat, then they may skip the initial chemo. I believe this is best practice in Japan, but best practice for Europeans is that chemo before operation gives your survival chances a bit of a boost. But I wouldn't sweat it if you don't get the pre-operation chemo.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your cancer journey. It's a mental battle as much as a physical one, so stay strong, stay positive and go kick cancer's butt...

PS. We were worried about how long it took to start treatment. But we were told that the cancer had likely been in there undetected for some time and was relatively slow growing. Basically "don't worry". Easier for a doctor to say than for you to do I know!

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately the nurse has told us my dad won’t be a candidate for operation as he is 81(although he is a very fit 81 year old). That’s why I’m so anxious about getting treatment started so it hopefully stops it getting any worse for now.

Ah, OK. I'm "young" at 56. Hope your Dad's treatment goes well