Hi everyone,
My 61 year old mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in November of 2007 and she has already undergone surgery to create a bypass from the stomach to the intestines, had her gall bladder removed, had a J-peg added, and in February 2008 underwent radiation and her first round of chemo, both of which nearly killed her. She lost somewhere in the ballpark of 50 pounds since this all has happened. (She was petite to begin with.)
She had begun her second round of chemo perhaps a month or so ago, and had never really recouperated from the first round and was very weak. She had become completely bed-ridden and the doctors finally requested that she be admitted to the hospital on Monday of this week because she had to cancel several chemo appointments due to her weakness. (She was beginning to fall when she didn't have assistance.) Since being in the hospital she is slowly regaining weight back, and we received some incredible news after having two CT scans this week, it appears that her tumor has shrunk significantly!! We consider this nothing short of a miracle.
So while Mom now has some time to concentrate on regaining her weight and her strength to eventually continue with chemo, her doctors have decided to take her off of regular food to give her bowels a break since they were damaged by the radiation/chemo. (She has had diarrhea since January's surgery.)
They now have her tethered to IV fluids, magnesium, fat, several oral medicines, and this big bag of what they call TPN (the nutrition that she will be using even after she comes back home, which is fed directly into her pic line).
My questions:
Mom is concerned about a few things and I am wondering if anyone else has experience with damaged bowels from treatment for pc and if they were given the TPN for a while. Mom wants to know approximately when she might be able to eat real food again. Like, when or what will she feel that will let her know her bowels are healed enough if she is not having bowel movements for some time.
And also, she is concerned that if she does not have bowel movements for a while, when she DOES begin to have them again, will it be physically difficult for her body to perhaps "relearn" this procedure, or will there be pain, etc.?
Anybody's experience would be greatly appreciated. I know that each patient with pc is unique, but I would love to be able to ease my Mom's concerns with at least some "average" experiences.
Thank you all for participating in this great message board, and God bless you all!
Sharon