On 7/24/2009 alleyny wrote:
My mom has just received a preliminary diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. The tumor is on the tail of the pancreas with two mets to the outer edge of the liver. We have a consultation at Memorial Sloan Kettering in a week, and I was wondering if there were any questions I should be asking the doctor. Right now my mother has not let on that she has any knowledge of the seriousness of the disease so I'm worried that what the doctor says will leave her in shock. That's why I need to be there to ask the questions. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and if any one here has been to Sloan, I'd like to hear about your experience. Thank you!
Wow your story was so similar to mine I had to join the site just so I could respond.my mom was diagnosedin Feb 2009 my mom also had the diagnosis of andenocarcinoma on the tail end of the pancreas. We received three opinions the fist oncologist immediately suggested we speak to a surgeon because the tumor was located in the tail end she was a good candidate. However what we later found out is that without the proper exams to see if it spread to other organs it was a procedure that was not necessary. We had an appt. w/ sloan kettering but because the cancer caused my moms diabetes to become uncontrolable she was admitted to bklyn hospital we missed our appt. Once admitted the oncologist there was so good and comferting she did not want to go to sloan. What good advice I can give is get the PET SCAN if you already have not already gotten one. what we learned even from Sloan was that once they have found it spread surgery is out of the question. With my mom tshe was scheduled for the surgery whent the pet scan came back it showed mets in the liver, stomach and other organs. chemo for this cancer is limited so be strong and ask what her risks are with whatever treatment they suggest.