Oh Swayze, you dancin' fool you!
While Patrick Swayze's doctor did confirm that the actor has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he says the National Enquirer's report claiming that Swayze has only five weeks to live is false. In a statement released yesterday, Dr. George Fisher said:
"Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far. All of the reports stating the time frame of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic." (Source)
So I shouldn't trust the National Enquirer with medical prognoses? Thanks a lot Doc! Where were you last month when I had that rash and called up the Enquirer offices for advice? The woman who answered the phone said I was "clearly fucking crazy". So naturally I went down to Mexico and purchased some Prozac. Well guess what? THE PILLS DIDN'T WORK. Now it burns when I pee.*
* I mean more than it usually does
[Bauer-Griffin]
The hard reality is pancreatic cancer is a game ender. Hopefully ihe is in no pain and doesn't suffer too much.
I am still under shock. He is so young. I hope he does not suffer and feels all teh support he needs
I knew it!!
Actually, he IS gonna die and so are all the rest of us....
The annual mortality rate almost approximates the annual incidence rate, which reflects the generally short survival time associated with pancreatic cancer, most often less than one year. On a stage for stage basis, cancer of the pancreas is met with the shortest median survival time out of all cancer types.
15% of all pancreatic cancer cases are confined to the pancreas and it is clearly separated from surrounding blood vessels. With surgery and postoperative chemotherapy and/or radiation may also be offered, the median survival time is 17 months.
40% of all pancreatic cancer cases are where the disease encases or compresses surrounding blood vessels, or has directly extended into adjacent structures. With chemotherapy (most commonly gemcitabine-based) and/or radiation... or in very rare instances, cancers that respond well to initial treatment might subsequently be surgically resected, the median survival time is 8-9 months.
45% of all pancreatic cancer cases show evidence of extrapancreatic spread to distant organs (liver, lungs, etc.). With chemotherapy (most commonly gemcitabine-based), the median survival time is 4-6 months.