Whipple Surgery And Constant Diarrhea

Need some info my brother had the whipple surgery done at mass General in Boston on Jan.5,2008. He had complications of infection and dehydration.  He has constant diarrhea and his weight has plummeted from 210 to 150lbs since Dec.22. He has had one chemo sesion and the diarrhea worsened.  He has been to the hospital 2 times in 2 weeks for 3 bags each time of fluids..  Anyone else experience these problems any help would be greatly appreciated..... He is only 44 yrs.old with 2 small kids.

thank-you,

pj

Not sure what kind of cancer your brother has, but my husband, 50 years old, is battling stage IV stomach cancer.  In October of 2007 he has a total gastrectomy.  He is doing chemo at the moment and is having a terrible time with diarrhea.  I have called both the nutritionist and the doctor and they both said that he should take immodium, which he has.  The diarrhea continues and of course his weight keeps going down.  He has been able to eat more and more as the days go, but has lost weight to the excessive diarrhea.  I have suggested eating lots of cheese as this constipates most people.  We will try this today and see  if it works.  I will post in a couple of days to let you know.

Did the doctors warn about the excessive diarrhea problem after whipple surgery?  My assistant was diagnosed with GERD in May and will need to do the whipple surgery sometime this Spring.  Iit would be nice to know ahead of time what the affects are of this evasive surgery.

My thought and prayers are with you and your family.

On 3/5/2008 cal1519 wrote:

Not sure what kind of cancer your brother has, but my husband, 50 years old, is battling stage IV stomach cancer.  In October of 2007 he has a total gastrectomy.  He is doing chemo at the moment and is having a terrible time with diarrhea.  I have called both the nutritionist and the doctor and they both said that he should take immodium, which he has.  The diarrhea continues and of course his weight keeps going down.  He has been able to eat more and more as the days go, but has lost weight to the excessive diarrhea.  I have suggested eating lots of cheese as this constipates most people.  We will try this today and see  if it works.  I will post in a couple of days to let you know.

Did the doctors warn about the excessive diarrhea problem after whipple surgery?  My assistant was diagnosed with GERD in May and will need to do the whipple surgery sometime this Spring.  Iit would be nice to know ahead of time what the affects are of this evasive surgery.

My thought and prayers are with you and your family.

My brother was diagnosed with duodenal cancer part of the small intestine it is very rare and only 1000 cases anually in the US they do not know how to treat it so they treat it  same as somach cancer.

He went back to mass General yesterday they are treating him for C-diff with a medication called flagyl, plus prescription imodium! The weight they lose can be huge.. He has had 5 bags of fluid IV in 3 days.  Make sure your husband is not getting dehydrated and push the doctors to look further into the cause of diarrhia....or ask for a prescription immodium...It took my brother almost 3 weeks of non stop diarrhia and numerous visits to hospital ...before we finally said to the Dr.s this guy is not having regular chemo side effect diarrhia...

Best of luck this thing they call CA is all encompassing not only for the patient but the family as well... I will pray for you and your husband!!!

I tell my brother have at least one belly laugh a day it is good for him!!

Keeping your husbands spirits up ios the best medicine... although not always easy.

PJ

yes I agree.  I finally got the prescription form of imodium today.  he will be going back to the doc on Monday for treatment, so hopefully by then the diarrhea has subsided.  it's such a long hard road for all involved.  The more I read, the more scared i get.  We have a 4 year old daughter that loves her daddy so much.  I hate to see my husband sad when he looks at her and probably wonders if he'll be around to see her grow up.

As a suggestion to someone that has been dealing with this for about 4 months now, is ask your doctor questions and keep calling them, even if it's in the middle of the night.  They get paid to be there for you and offer medical advice.

Stomach cancer is a hard cancer, but with faith all things are possible.  I feel that this is what has helped me deal with the stress and uncertainty that comes with this disease.

Good luck to you and your family :-)

On 3/5/2008 cal1519 wrote:

yes I agree.  I finally got the prescription form of imodium today.  he will be going back to the doc on Monday for treatment, so hopefully by then the diarrhea has subsided.  it's such a long hard road for all involved.  The more I read, the more scared i get.  We have a 4 year old daughter that loves her daddy so much.  I hate to see my husband sad when he looks at her and probably wonders if he'll be around to see her grow up.

As a suggestion to someone that has been dealing with this for about 4 months now, is ask your doctor questions and keep calling them, even if it's in the middle of the night.  They get paid to be there for you and offer medical advice.

Stomach cancer is a hard cancer, but with faith all things are possible.  I feel that this is what has helped me deal with the stress and uncertainty that comes with this disease.

Good luck to you and your family :-)

I can certainly understand your husbands sadness about his daughter I see that same look in my brothers eyes when he looks at his 7 yr old and 9yr old daughters.  Before he had his whipple surgery he made me promise through all that happens through his battle with cancer that I would promise to still be apart of his girls life ..Because he realizes that his time is limited!!!  Take everyday as a blessing... Take plenty of pictures with your husband and little girl so she will always have a photograph..... There are people who beat Cancer !!!! Maybe your husband and my brother will be the lucky ones!!!

Thinking of you and your familiy,

I will be praying...

p.s. Hope this prescription strength imodium does the trick and he regains his strength