Posted by Heidi on December 29, 1999 at 14:58:20:
My 33 year-old brother-in-law had an endoscopy last Monday and was told they believed he had stomach cancer. I can't tell you what a shock this was to him and our family. Most men get it in their 60s and 70s! The first biopsy came back "inconclusive," but they still believed it was stomach cancer. Most people don't find out until stage 3 or 4 because of vague symptoms and the fact that they don't routinely screen for it in the U.S. He next met with a surgeon who was arrogant and cruel and basically told him there was no hope. In desperation their friends hooked them up with a cancer specialist at UC Davis Med Center. He was much more hopeful and positive. He went through a second endoscopy on Christmas Eve morning and yesterday we found out that it, too, had come back "inconclusive." We feel very hopeful by this news. We hope it means that #1 it isn't cancer or #2 that it isn't adenocarcinoma (which 90-95% of stomach cancers are) and that it is one of the lesser, uncommon types of stomach cancer.
This has been an emotional roller coaster and we are all very scared. He and my sister have a 10 year-old and a 6 year-old and a wonderful marriage. Please pray for Gene and contact me if you have or know anyone who has this disease (especially if you are in his age group) and if you've had experiences with inconclusive biopsies.