If it is a reassurance, my old man was in a right mess (age 54) and when they opened him up (colon cancer) they gave him three weeks. Once they had extracted all and looked at the biopsies, things weren't as bad and he lived for a further four years. 5 months after his first stay (and he said he couldn't remember hardly a thing for over two weeks), he came out to Paris, where I was living, looking wonderfully fit. One of my fav photos is a small picture of the two of us next to a fountain in a hotel drive.....
You may be in for some bad initial news but they really need to do their spade work first so hold in for that.