Mariner, is it certain that the cancer is inoperable?

My mother had what sounds like exactly the same condition – cancer of the upper or transverse part of the large intestine which had spread to her adjacent stomach. She had surgery in which they removed part of her intestine and part of her stomach, and she recovered nicely. Biopsies showed no spread of the cancer to other nearby organs and no cancer cells in her lymph nodes. This was last January. After the surgery, we moved her to a nursing home and she is thriving there.

She originally went into the hospital because of undiagnosed weakness, which we now know was caused by a combination of anemia (probably due to intestinal bleeding) and low blood sugar (she has type II diabetes, and wasn't eating properly or taking her medicine properly). The intestinal cancer wasn't diagnosed until after she was admitted. Then the stomach involvement wasn't discovered until she was in surgery.

Afterwards, the surgeon told us that the cancer had probably been growing for months and had probably been causing pain, although my mother had never complained of it. (She's a rather stoical type.)

My mother is 88 years old. She is thriving now that the cancer is gone, and someone is watching her diet, testing her blood sugar regularly, and seeing that she takes her medicine on schedule.

I don't want to give you false hope, though. It may be that in your wife's case the cancer has already metastasized. I suppose that would change the picture greatly.

But if they haven't told you how they KNOW your wife's cancer is inoperable, you need to at least get an explanation, and if the explanation leaves any doubts in your mind, get a second opinion.