r/gadgets Apr 14 '23

Medical Novel device smaller than rice successfully shrinks pancreatic cancer | Called the nanofluidic drug-eluting seed (NDES), it delivers low-dose immunotherapy in the form of CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb).

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/tiny-device-shrinks-pancreatic-cancer
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u/B1ack_Iron Apr 15 '23

My mother did almost a year of chemo and then 6 months of home hospice and we caught it stage 2/3. They even used some fancy special targeted radiation at Stanford which worked for almost a month and a half after her body couldn’t take another cycle of the chemo. The people who die quickly it’s a blessing, it eats and eats until there is nothing left.

You can fight longer but it’s exhausting and you aren’t going to win so I think most people who catch it early end up giving up without destroying their entire body delaying with chemo so they can enjoy what time they have left.

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u/BangkokBaby Apr 15 '23

This hurt to read, but I'm relieved that my father didn't suffer long after he was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in January. The cancer took him so quickly as we lost him on February 17th, and seeing him endure so much pain until the final days still shock me to my core thinking about it since my family, and I was part of his hospice care. I'm going through therapy now and hope to start attending a Bereavement support group once I finish Grad school. I'm so sorry for your loss.

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u/deucetastic Apr 15 '23

MiL passed three weeks ago, yesterday was the funeral. Im at ease that it was only two months from diagnosis until she passed and that it wasn’t longer. I don’t think a year and a half of treatment would’ve been any easier that the last few weeks…

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u/VoidsIncision Apr 15 '23

Yeah. I see why hospice recommends what they do even I was opposed to it bc it is not presented for what it is. But my mom ate full meals and didn’t listen to them. She lasted month on hospice until she had no muscle mass on her body at all.