Especially for J:
Thanks again J
Few more items of info:
Our GP looking at the scan "it is only on the tip of the pancreas and I see
4 metastases on liver..."
If Dad was not in bad condition (Karno ~50%) it could be removed, but now it
has to be decided by a real specialist as regards chemo.
I organised Consultation with Mom (Dad is not aware) on April 4th in the
department of well known (advised by Dr R L Fine) Pr. D. Khayat in Paris.
This appointment is a glimmer of hope.

I am a bit disappointed about the hospital diet. It is almost 1 week since
they know how his liver&pancreas are and no modification of diet...they are
even serving some cooked bief (French boeuf bourguignon....) what the hell
is he going to do with that !!!??? All he wants are fruit juices, water (a
lot >1.5l /day), and a persian mixture he likes with sparking water and
yoghourt...it is obviously not going to re-build his lost muscles. What
about pancreatic extracts and particular proteins ?

Thanks all for your help

Michel

Don't get hung up on diet. Whatever he wants is good. If the hospital food
isn't to his liking then take his food in.
If he opts for chemo he is going to want food even less and to be honest
there is little that chemo can do for pancreatic cancer, he may survive
longer without it and  certainly will feel better without it.
MIKE

Hi Michel

My name is Barbara and my best friend Chris died last month of
pancreatic cancer with metasis to the liver. By all means, you dad
should be eating whatever he wants........Chris would've thought that
beef bourguinon sounded good.  It is good for patients with this
disease to eat as much as they can....Chris used to try to think about
food and work up "cravings", he generally went for hearty homecooked
type stuff but he had his Indian food and Chinese food periods.

However, if your dad can't eat that's OK, towards the end Chris didn't
want much but jello and ice chips and when we convinced him to eat more
he would either vomit or have a diarrhea attack, which are signs that
his body didn't want the food.

If his doctor had been recommended by Dr. Fine in NYC, he may be urged
to try the GTX chemo. Chris tried this as well as a variant of it (they
scan after a certain number of cycles and then adjust the therapy). He
didn't get much tumor reduction but it succeeded in slowng the disease
progression and allowed him to maintain a Performance status or around
70-75 for several months.  About one in every 30 or 50 or 100 patients
on this chemo will have a fairly dramatic response and will improve
greatly and stick around for a year or more. However, performance
status at time of diagnosis is important, if the status is too low
there is a good chance that the patient will not be able to maintain a
chemo schedule....Chris had to have his blood checked the day before
each chemo.....and the disease will progress and the treatment or two
he makes it through will be worthless.

Feel free to contact me directly with questions, although the e-mail I
have here is a "throwaway" account I will try to remember to check it.
I also want to urge you to join the pancreatic cancer list at acor.org.
Just post your story and say hello, you can also post any questions
that you might have about specific treatments or problems. Chance are
very good that there is someone on the list that has either done or
researched the treatment or had the same problem....in the case of Dr.
Fine and his chemo, there are probably about 6 people on the list with
experience with it.

My best to you and your Dad

Barbara

Bonjour Michel,
Perhaps pancreatic enzymes?
His cancer is very advanced, MIchel. At some point, anything he eats, the
cancer will gobble it up and he'll lose strength and muscle function.
Quality of life is what counts now.
My thoughts are with you and your father.
Keep in touch,
J
PS There's a poster here who is impersonating me. His screen name is also
"J". Try to ignore him or filter him using your newsreader Filters
function.