My grandfather is 88 years old and looks extremely good for his age; he's also very smart and interested in everything, with a great general condition.
He's always been healthy except for the past 2 months - he was always feeling nauseous when he ate, went through some exames and three weeks ago we found he has gastric cancer. Exams seemed to show that the tumour was quite large but hadn't spread, so surgery seemed like a good option to remove most of the tumor and his stomach.
However, he went through surgery today but there was not much they could do - they said they "cleaned" what was possible (what does this mean??) but the tumour was very close (not invading) intestine and pancreas so they couldn't go through. Due do his age, he can't go through chemotherapy either. However, they did perform something that will allow him to eat better (the food will go directly to the intestine) since he has lost of weight in the past weeks because he's always so nauseous that his stomach won't take anything. In what concerns the tumor...nothing more to do.
Honestly, what to expect? The doc said he can have a good quality of life, but I should expect that in this stage things will only get worse? He doesn't look or seem fragile and keeps his spirits up, but for how long may he live? Will he suffer very much? Can we minimise that, and how? How to make him not feel any pain? Also: should we be upfront with him or it's better not to say much about it?
Thanks in advance
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