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Anyone diagnosed with Gallbladder cancer?

Cancer | Last Active: Jan 13 6:20pm | Replies (56)
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@heartofgold57

My big sister (by choice, not biology) had emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder (plus some of her liver)... Diagnosed Stage 3... It's been a couple of months and she still has a drain because she had developed an infection too... She starts chemo the first week of February. for 7 months ( 2 weeks on/ 1 week off). I'm doing what I can, from afar (she is in Florida, I'm in CA) by gathering data to help her / support her as best I can... My first question I have is this -- 7 months of chemo??? Isn't that a very long time for chemo? ... She's been told the chemo is given to slow down the growth/keep it from spreading but there is no cure, remission is not possible. My second question - Are there studies out there for people in stage 3 who decide NOT to do chemo and how long on average someone with stage 3 will live in comparison to someone who does the chemo (how long on average will they live after chemo is completed)?

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Replies to "My big sister (by choice, not biology) had emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder (plus some..."
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Feb 5, 2023

Hi @heartofgold57, I love your username. This must be so hard for you to be so far from your big sister. It's obvious that she means a lot to you.

It is not unusual to have chemo for several months. Chemotherapy is given over a period of time, like the case with your sister. Different drugs may be given over a period of days or on different days. The week "off" is to give the good cells time to recover. You see, chemotherapy goes throughout the body (systemic), killing cancer cells that may have spread. It also kills or damages the fast-producing cells in our body, like blood cells. Luckily these cells replenish after chemotherapy. But they make take some time to replenish, so during that time she may be fatigued (low red blood cells) or more prone to infection (low white blood cells).

I'm tagging fellow members like @alie @formayor @pgf @dougmcd @waflanders to share their experiences with chemotherapy for gallbladder cancer.

HeartofGold, did she start chemo yet or does she start this week? How is she doing?

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