How Much More Time Do You Get?

My mother had the whipple done Jan 25th in Boston. She is 60 yrs old and in good health. She was smoking prior to the surgery .. but no medical issues. We got the report from pathology .. Stage IIB. When we went back to have the staples taken out and cap the last drain .. i asked the nurse if she sees many pc patients years later. Why did i ask this with my mother in the room?? idk. but she said "its a tough one to beat (something i already knew) and that she doesn't see many patients years later, not that its not impossible, and in most patients the cancer does come back." She also said the surgery, chemo and radiation basically gives you more time.  So, i left feeling like pc is a death sentence no matter how hard you fight. But i feel like it cant be! I want to hear some positive stories! Has anyone gone thru this and is still living cancer free years after?? I need some positive feed back! Please give me hope for my mother!

My mother is doing great. Shes positive and everyday she is more like herself before surgery. Shes eating little meals frequently during the day. The one thing that slows her down and stops her from eating is a feeling like the food isn't going down, or stuck in her throat. Anyone else have this issue?

Please give me HOPE!! my mother is my best friend. i can't imagine my life without her!

 i lost my father almost 4yrs ago of bladder cancer! i just can't go thru this again. its a horrible horrible disease! it just isn't fair.

Do your research-I found several stories about my moms cancer( cervical stageIV). Good ones. That did help me stay alittle more positive. Just know that any one doctor, nor a nurse can tell you what is going to be your moms destiny. Only what they have seen or learned in their education. I understand your feelings about not wanting to lose your mom. I am going through the same emotions right now. My mom is not doing anymore treatment. Her choice. They gave her 6-9 months. She doesn' t want to do the chemo and be sick for whatever time she has left. The thought is unbearable to think about life without my momma. She is my best friend. She is doing fine right now and I pray at all times of the day and thank God for each day I have with her. I try to convince myself of my belief in God, even though this is a nasty thing to go through. I pray for her comfort and strength. I ask God every night to help melt her tumors like  m & m's under the hot summer sun. I wish your mom well and strength for you both to get through this. Prayers for you. Dani

Hello there,

Well, I had this wonderful post all typed up and then I lost it!  So, I will start all over again.  I really don't have any idea why I came to this board as I am a rectal cancer survivor.  However, there usually isn't a lot going on in the rectal cancer world and something drew me to your topic.  After reading your post, I had to tell you this story.

I have only had limited experience with pancreatic cancer.  My father in law was diagnosed in 1993 and, honestly, didn't last very long-about 4 months.  However, by the time they diagnosed him, he was quite far along and opted for no treatment other than some procedure to unblock a clogged bile duct.

The next person that I know of who had pancreatic cancer was my friend's mother in law.  The woman also was diagnosed at a fairly advanced stage, but she opted for a whole lot of chemo and in the beginning it appeared to be working but eventually the cancer caught up with her and she, too succumbed.

Ok, so you are probably wondering WHY I am posting this, up until now, rather depressing post.  Well, not too long ago, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine.  I inquired about her dad as I knew he was having problems.  His wife had recently died and he just wasn't doing all that well.  Somehow in the course of the conversation, Michelle mentioned that her dad was a diabetic which I was quite suprised about.  Michelle was quite matter of fact about it and said that when he had had a portion of his pancreas out  he became a diabetic.  That whole conversation shocked me as I had never really heard of anyone having part of their pancreas out.  She went on to tell me that he had a Whipple procedure for pancreatic cancer.  Up until that time, the only experiences I had had with pancreatic cancer obviously had not been positive, so I must have said something like how sorry I was and she said, no , everything was fine.  I then asked her how long ago this surgery was, and she had to think for a minute and then said, oh about 18 years ago!  Now, granted they happened to have caught his cancer at a very early stage which I am sure helped immensely.  I wanted you to know that surviving pancreatic cancer really does happen.

You are all too well aware of how difficult the journey is for the cancer patient.  I firmly believe that a positive attitude, while not necessarily guaranteeing success goes a long way towards achieving one's goal.  I also believe that a negative attitude helps bring about failure.  You must make sure that your mother never gives up HOPE!  By chance, I came across a HOPE necklace from St. Jude's Hospital (the cancer hospital for children) and bought one in gold and sterling.  I wear that necklace everyday to remind me to never give up HOPE.  Here is the link if you are interested:

http://shop.stjude.org/GiftCatalog/shop.do?cID=10065&pID

 

I wish both you and your mother well as she embarks on your journey.  Remember that this road will be full of many twists and turns along the way and that the ride is usually full of bumps.  Believe in the power of prayer and never, ever give up HOPE.  Good luck and God Bless you and your family.

Jaynee

The stats, are indeed, dire.  However, they are just stats and some will survive long term.  Many will survive years, even if the cancer comes back.  Because your mom was even able to have the whipple already puts her on the positive side of things.  Please go to the Johns Hopkins pancreas cancer message board.  There are many long term survivors there and you will find hope.  Best wishes to you and your mom. 

In case you did not happen to find this website on the pc board I will repost it here. If I had a family member with this disease I surely would be researching this treatment.__________________ Pancreatic cancer http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&d

On 2/9/2008 gal78smile wrote:

My mother had the whipple done Jan 25th in Boston. She is 60 yrs old and in good health. She was smoking prior to the surgery .. but no medical issues. We got the report from pathology .. Stage IIB. When we went back to have the staples taken out and cap the last drain .. i asked the nurse if she sees many pc patients years later. Why did i ask this with my mother in the room?? idk. but she said "its a tough one to beat (something i already knew) and that she doesn't see many patients years later, not that its not impossible, and in most patients the cancer does come back." She also said the surgery, chemo and radiation basically gives you more time.  So, i left feeling like pc is a death sentence no matter how hard you fight. But i feel like it cant be! I want to hear some positive stories! Has anyone gone thru this and is still living cancer free years after?? I need some positive feed back! Please give me hope for my mother!

My mother is doing great. Shes positive and everyday she is more like herself before surgery. Shes eating little meals frequently during the day. The one thing that slows her down and stops her from eating is a feeling like the food isn't going down, or stuck in her throat. Anyone else have this issue?

Please give me HOPE!! my mother is my best friend. i can't imagine my life without her!

 i lost my father almost 4yrs ago of bladder cancer! i just can't go thru this again. its a horrible horrible disease! it just isn't fair.

Yes, the statistics are very poor. I lost my husband to PC almost a year after he had the Whipple. Here's what I wish I had done differently. I wish I had spent less time compulsively looking for good news and encouraging statistics and spent more time just living. My husband never worried about statistics; he just took every day as a gift and assumed there would be many more days ahead. He enjoyed himself during that last year. I pretended to enjoy myself for his sake and, really, I did enjoy our time together but I wasn't 100% THERE. Part of me was always looking toward the next scan and the next 19-9 test. I guess what I'm trying to say is enjoy every day. Try to live in the present and not in the future. If your Mom is turns out to be one of the lucky ones, you won't have wasted a lot of time worrying over things beyond your control. If she doesn't, well, you'll have enjoyed the time you had with her. In my caregiver's support group, our leader said something that I didn't understand at the time. He said that most healthy people say they'd like to die in their sleep without ever being sick. He said he didn't want that for himself.He wanted to see death coming so he could deal with it head on and do and say the things that had to be done. I thought he was crazy. Who would want to know that they were dying? Now I understand. I'm glad that my husband knew death was coming and I knew it and our young children knew it. It was hard but when it happened, we knew we had no unfinished business, no words left unsaid. So do two things- while your mom is doing well, have fun with her and do all the things you've always wanted to do. If she stays healthy, great, you've had a blast. You'll need those good memories if things don't go well. Just don't get too obsessive looking for good news. The real good news is that your mom is doing well right now. Take it and run with it.

 My father lost his battle recently, he wasn't a candidate for surgery.  

 I personally know two people who are alive and well after the whipple.  One fellow is over five years out and the lady is about three or four.  It is possible to survive if caught early enough.

  I wish your mother great success and health.

   Vicki

I also had trouble swallowing. I had a lot of pain in my chest also.

My radiology Dr. said it was a fungal infection in my esophogus and gave me a prescription for antibiotics that really helped.

I hope this helps you

God Bless you and your Mom