Pancreatic Cancer - Our Journey has just begun

[me_mum]

Here is our story, mum was diagnosed in October this year 2016. Within one month she was developing Jaundice and had back pain, nausea and was not eating well. She was set to have a Whipple procedure last friday but they saw that the tumour had grown more than 4cm from when she had her last scan. So they did two bypasses one to fix the jaundice and one to assist with digestion. She just arrived back home two days ago and is still abit nauseated and has troubles eating (my guess is she is still recovering from the operation).

The doctors have advised she do strong Chemotherapy  (i am not sure what this involves yet), to shrink the tumour to then be able to complete the Whipple procedure Feb 2017. My worry is will the tumour spread before she starts chemo which is a month away. 

Any advice would be great.

I am happy to also provide support and share my knowledge of what we have experienced with anyone going through the same diagnosis.

[kj]

It reads like at the present your mum Is not medically well enough to start a vigorous and strong chemotherapy to try and shrink the tumour so a whipple can proceed,I would be asking for as much information about the proposed treatments from her medicos,,unfortunately options are limited at this time.

Everyone responds differently to treatments good luck.

[me_mum]

So are you saying that mum should not be feeling nausea and not wanting to eat just after her operation? We are booked in to see the specialist on tuesday so we'll explain all this to him then.

Thanks

[kj]

Nausea,and not wanting to eat are symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer ,her body would be still be recovering from surgery as well ,after my whipple it was weeks before I could eat,I could not remember all my questions to the docs so I wrote it all down,even though I had no appetite  during chemo I would try a small serve of scrambled eggs on toast they told me to eat whatever I could keep down.it is trial and error.Good that you are seeing the specialist Tuesday.

[nifty]

Seek a second opinion. Many surgeons are doing the whipple operation and most have had little experience, rule one, ask them what their rate is per year, must be at least 40, ask what the outcomes are, do they have a back up team.

I do not know you position but if you are in Melbourne, then there are excellent surgeons. We used Dr Charles Pilgrim (Victorian Heoato Pancreato Billiary Surgery Group) who is outstanding, works out of Cabrini Hospital.

Do not delay, seek other options, push hard till you get a result, a result to make you feel comfortable, just get out there and work until you make it happen. Nifty. 

[me_mum]

Thanks everyone, i am onto it today 😉 but first i have to try and get mum to eat something...

Does anyone have any suggestions for types of food she can eat at this time?

[kj]

Try some hospital sustagen drink with a blended banana  and milk or just mixed with plain water

I found it nourishing.

[me_mum]

Mum is now taking Ondansetron which seems to have helped she has stopped vomiting and is starting to eat abit more now.

The specialist has advised that she needs to eat normally before she can start chemo, the recovery from a partial whipple is from 4-6weeks.

So next is another lot of blood tests and re-CT Scan...

[kj]

That is good about the ondansetron helping ,sorry I assumed your mum was already on anti nausea meds.Hopefully eating will quicken her recovery before chemo is started.

[me_mum]

Just got mum's results of her CTScan post bypass surgery, the tumour has grown from 4.2 to 4.5cm and another small one is now growing next to it at roughly 1.7cm, both tumours are still intact and are not affecting other organs... mum should be starting chemo Jan 2017.

Is 4.5cm big for this kind of cancer? what about now having another one grow next to it?

PS: Mum is still having issues keeping her food down as well...