Squamous Carcinoma Of Pancreas

My only brother was just diagnosed with a squamous carcinoma of the pancreas. He is 49 and otherwise very healthy. It has not metasticized except perhaps local lymph nodes. It is too big to resect at this point, so the treatment is chemo- cisplatin and gemzar.  Apparently, this is a very rare form of pancreatic cancer and I am hoping that someone out there has some experience that can help us.

Thank you so much in advance.

I am so sorry for what you are going thru.  It is good that it hasn't metastisized to other organs.  Unfortunately, by the time that my husband squamous carcinoma of the pancreas was diagnosed, it was very large & there was quite a bit of liver involvement.He was put on a GTX chemo regiment.  I hope that your brother has consulted with a large cancer center-this is to rare to mess around with-contact Pancan-they have a website & should be able to guide you through the process.  Please let me know how your brother is doing-I care.

Bonni

On 5/17/2008 bonniltc wrote:

I am so sorry for what you are going thru.  It is good that it hasn't metastisized to other organs.  Unfortunately, by the time that my husband squamous carcinoma of the pancreas was diagnosed, it was very large & there was quite a bit of liver involvement.He was put on a GTX chemo regiment.  I hope that your brother has consulted with a large cancer center-this is to rare to mess around with-contact Pancan-they have a website & should be able to guide you through the process.  Please let me know how your brother is doing-I care.

 

Bonni

Bonni,

 Thanks so much for replying. This is really hard as you know. My brother is at Sloan Kettering, so that is good. Where is your husband being treated? We are trying to make sure that we are using the right protocols and want to find the experts. The doctors at MSKCC, while great, haven't seen very many of these. So, it would be great to find out your expereince.

thanks again. I am trying to do everything I can for my brother. He is only 11 mths younger than I am and we are very close.

My husband was treated for many months for irritable bowel syndrome, which in fact was Cancer. We were told that if  during this time period if it had been diagnosed before it spread so far, he could have had a chance.  The surgeon who put his chemo port in, consulted with Sloan Kettering.  They said that they only had seen 40 cases on record.  The surgeon has great respect for Sloan Kettering.  He felt that if this had been diagnosed earlier, that something could have been done.  Unfortunately, my otherwise "healthy" 52 year old husband died 12/01/07-he had been diagnosed at the end of August, after being sick since January.  I am so glad that your brother is with Sloan Kettering.  I was just telling my daughter about you & your brother-we hope that you kep in touch with us-we want to know how both of you are doing.  Remember to take care of yourself too!

Bonni

How is your family today?  Just wanted to know that we were thinking of you today.

Bonni

Please let us know how you & your family are doing.

Bonni