Hi.... My sister was dignosed on 7/20... There are now "masses" in her liver, but the PET scan did not show them... CT's showed them.. My sister is very excited about this news, but I know the truth... Pancreatic Cancer does not vanish. The Dr. will not do a biopsy, but has increased the chemo to a stronger dose. My question is .... What is next? What is the time frame? ( i know no one knows, but i need experience stories) I will be taking care of her when things start to go down hill. She currently feels great... Loves the weight loss and the chemo is not to bad... but she has stage 3.
Thanks to everyone, again... I just need to know that I am not going through this alone.
she was excited that the PET scan did not show the masses....

thanks to all .... (so far!)

Pancreatic cancer is one of the fastest and most vicious cancers that there are. It affects insulin and pancreatic enzymes that digest food, so it can throw the digestive system out of whack. When you can't eat, you have a hard time getting enough nutrition to fight the cancer.

It could be that he is either not telling your sister exactly everything to keep her hopes up, or has told her and she doesn't want you to worry.

When it gets to the point where she needs help: You can help her, but you can also call in hospice to help you care for her.Hospice can bring in hospital beds, medicine and equipment and caregivers,clergy, social workers and nurses to take care of her at home. A doctor will be on call also.

I am not sure why she is "excited" by the news of masses on her liver unless she wants to leave this world soon? It means the pancreatic cancer has spread. I have never known of pancreatic cancer to vanish. If she already has cancer, a biopsy would be futile. Even if benign, there would still be the pancreatic cancer, but probably it is not benign on her liver.

See if you can find a cancer support group for you and her to go to together. Sometimes just talking to others going through the same thing can help. Call the American Cancer Society near you and ask them about such a group.

Obviously the doctor increasing the chemo strength is not a good sign. You do have to allow a cancer patient to be excited and positive about small things, it's all they have. Deep inside they know what the reality is, but I'm sure they get tired of dealing with it. My brother lived 6 months after he was diagnosed with a huge cancerous abdominal tumor that had begun to squish his pancreas and liver and the cancer had spread into those organs. He had 4 cycles of chemo and it did nothing for him but make him sick. During his months, he would also get excited over small things in order to escape reality for a bit. His cancer was a stage 3, also. Hang in there, I'm sorry your sister is sick.