Mid february my wife was looking real yellow and went to hospital for a ERCP to put a stent in to clear a bile duct blockage. The following day she had Post ERCP pancretitis which apparantly as we discovered later is not an unusal outcome. After 6 days of nil by mouth, then several xrays and MRI we were told she had a 1 cm tumor in the upper bile duct (refered to as intrahepatic) and she was refered to a different hospital. The stent wasn't working so this was taken out, by ERCP, and PTC was done, inserting a drain in through the side and into the bile duct by going through the liver and into the bile duct from the top. This time she had a metal stent instead of the plastic one.
Now after nearly 6 weeks we are waiting for a hemihepatectomy (removal of the bile duct and 1/2 of the liver). We have read all the web literature about the survival rates, sucess or lack of re chemotherapy etc, etc but overall are still trying to get to grips with the fact this has come on reasonably fast.
Laproscopic surgery shows all clean and a suitable canditate for surgery but two facts we still cannot find, is a 1cm tumor a large or small one and what is the rate of growth of a tumor of this nature. With all the reading I have done, we are still not sure if this is a Klatskins tumor and the doctors haven't yet confirmed it. As we are from New Zealand, we are dependant on the public health system finding a gap in the surgery list so "hopeful" of a operation in 2-4 weeks.
Any comments appreciated.