My Mother-In-Law has Pancreatic Cancer, she was diagnosed early in?

October. My Family is Devastated bcuz one of her Sons died of this same Disease 2 yrs. ago. When he was Diagnosed with it, the Doctors couldn't do anything for him. well, now that his Mom had surgery they found out the tumor could not be removed so she has to resort to Chemo when she gets out of the Hospital. It is horrifying bcuz we found out there is a Gene that is inherited for this form of Cancer, and I wonder if Chemo is enough to help AT ALL? It used to be there was no hope for Pancreatic Cancer but what have read lately, there IS since new developments.

Does anyone know any facts on new treatments for this?
We don't want to lose my "Mom-In-Law".

Thanks for any suggestions!

I'm sorry to hear this. I hope all goes well. When dealing with the medical, specialists are the way to go and here's a site that looks like it could help you out:
http://www.pancreatica.org/
They also have a FAQs section:
http://www.pancreatica.org/faq.html
I would START there and then consider speaking with someone as you will hit the ground running with some good info.
The site also has clinical trial listings and more. You should discuss any of this with your mother-in-law's physician as there can be so many reasons why something is NOT indicated for a particular patient.

There is a really good site called pancreatic.org it was founded by a brother who lost his brother to this disease. It's a great site and really upbeat with lots of new information and updates on this type of cancer. I really hope your mother in law will be okay. Cancer is scary, I'm fighting breast cancer right now and it's tough, but the support I get through breast cancer .org is fantastic so check out this site it will help the whole family. God bless and prayers going your way.

At this point, there really is no cure for pancreatic cancer. Chemo can help prolong her life. She needs to ask herself what she is willing to do or go through to extend her life. For me, it would be important to maximize the quality of my life as opposed to the length of it. Some docs will do anything and everything to extend the length of her life, regardless of the quality. She and/or her family need to be an advocate and make it clear to her care providers what her priorities are.

I don't know what the specific developments are, just continue to do your research on medline or similar sites. If you find a pioneer in the field of treating pancreatic cancer, you can always get a consult from him/her if it is not feasible to get care from them directly.

Remember, her doctors work for her. She doesn't need to suffer endlessly. Sorry for what you and your family are going through.

Unfortunately, the long-term projection for patients with pancreatic cancer stands at about five years, with most living just under two. Chemo is still the standard alternative for pancreatic cancer, and it is done to try to prolong life. It's a very sad situation and you have my sympathy, as does your mother-n-law.

See Steve F's post here - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=2... and also consider getting the book A Cancer Battle Plan. Good alternative sites are http://www.annieappleseedproject.com and http://www.bcaction.org and http://www.hacres.com .

My wife's Grandmother reversed her pancreatic cancer essentially on the hallelujah diet at hacres.com. She was diagnosed that she had 3 months to live after a cat scan that confirmed it was cancerous. That was 3 or 4 years ago and she's 90 years old now and thriving. After a few weeks on the diet, even her liver spots started to clear up, and now the difference in her skin quality is amazing.