Wife has pancreatic cancer Stage 4

[Granite53]

Hi there.

On 15th March this year, my wife of 41 years (she's 68 and I'm 66) had a pancreatic cancer diagnosis with metastates in the liver confirmed.  A complete shock as there is no family history on her side of any form of cancer.

She has been told it is inoperable and incureable.

She started chemo on 29 March after having a powerport installed on 20 March.  On 31 March, her temp spiked at 38.2 so I took her to the local hospital for admittance.

Eventually it was confirmed that the powerport had an infection so it was removed on 3 April.

Since then she's had 2 more chemp sessions using a canulla in her hand.

She has lost 10 kgs since the diagnosis due to taste changes, worry and fatigue from the chemo.

She is terrified of having to go back to hospital but the powerport will be reinstalled in about 4 weeks time.

Our 2 girls live between 1 and 3 hours away and visit as much as possible on weekends.

I am managing the housework etc OK at the moment - luckily retired some 5 years ago and at this point money is not an issue.

I am angry all the time - why is life so unfair?  If anyone was going to get the big C it would be me - Dad had bowel cancer, Grandad had Prostate cancer, Mum has had 2 brushes with it - breast and kidney and my youngest sister had a brush with breast cancer.

I can't imagine life without my partner - we've been together for 47 years - travelled Canada, US, Europe, UK, NZ as well as Oz in our van.

She is not handling the effects of the chemo well - loss of appetite and extreme fatigue - this is typical for chemo I'm told - BIL's wife died from lymphnoma, mate been through bone marrow transplant for lymphnoma.

I'm just so bloody angry!

Many tears have been shed and many more to come.

granite53

[kj]

Sorry to read of your wife’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and that it’s incurable,I hope the chemo treatment and insertion of the port goes better when it’s done.

[iloveyoudearly7]

Hello,

I am so sorry to hear about your situation, cancer is such a cruel thing and doesnt discriminate, it effects everyone and of all ages. Nothing is fair with such an monster. You don't need an family connection to develop it.

Your wife's fear is more than understandable, especially with past infections. However the hospital will endeavour to do their best and ensure that this will not occur again, especially if infection has happened before. They will pay more careful attention to that aspect.

It's great to see that you have a supportive family and money/house work is no problem for you. But please do remember that there are programs which can assist, if you like. (Call ph: 13 11 20 Cancer Council for the listed information).

If your finding that you need to speak to someone, they can help with that as well. But everyone is different.

I understand perfectly what this is like, i always felt inbetween emotions - anywhere from helpless, frustration to saddnes.

The symptoms that your describing does sound rather typical of what chemo can usually do. Tho if your worried you can contact your treating doctor.

You could always seek an second opinion.

Remember that there is no real determined timeline to these kind of things and its merely an doctor's guess. Its not always gonna be accurate.