Father With Stage 2B Pancreatic Cancer

Hi, my father was diagnosed in March with a 6cm pancreatic tumor. He had a Whipple Procedure, the cancer spread to the lymph nodes, but no other organs. He and healed quickly, and has been on Gemzar for five months, 4 more treatments to go, and he has been feeling pretty okay, considering. His chief complaint is severe back pain(burning), for which he had been taking upwards of 12 percocet a day. Now he takes percs and oxycontin. Meanwhile, I am getting married next weekend, and his next post operative CTscan is the day after my wedding, when I leave for my honeymoon! So far from his last scan, a month ago, the doctors say that the cancer hasn't come back, yet, but I am afraid that it is because of his pain. Does anyone know why he has burning in his back(muscles)? I have exhausted every website trying to find the answer....

there is something called "referred pain."

this is phantom pain in a body part that shares the same nerve supply as the area that actually has something going on.

one example you may be familiar with - when a person has a heart attack, the source of the pain is the chest. however, the pain signals are so great there is cross talk between the nerves that service the heart (vagus nerve) and the nerves that service the left arm, neck, and jaw. hence, when a person has a heart attack, they may have pain in their left arm, neck, and jaw.

scar tissue, compressing nerves in the area of the stomach and pancreas, are well known to cause referred pain to the back.

unfortunately, recurrence of the pancreatic cancer can certainly compress nerves and cause the same thing.

lastly, metastatic spread of the cancer to the back can of course cause back pain as well.

if the back pain is worsening, perhaps a PET scan might be helpful. PET scans are 93% accurate in finding cancers of pancreatic origin, vs CT scans which are only 67% accurate. Perhaps before you get busy with wedding plans, contact your father's doctor and ask him about a PET scan.

Thanks for responding so quickly. As far as wedding plans, the wedding is next weekend, and I am not changing that. His pain is NOT worse, it's been the same for the past couple of months. The reason he added oxy to his percocet, is because his stomach was bothering him as well. The doctor said that it is from too many percocet, so he added oxycontin, and lowered the amount of percs he takes. I already asked the Dr. about the PET scan, but he said that the CT was what they wanted to do. Does "referred pain" ever go away? And what about tumor markers? The ca 19-9 he last had was perfect. The doctor doesn't take that blood test every time he has blood work done, which is every week before chemo. Why, I wonder?

My husband had very similar pain. Percocet had no effect. Oncologist said after the whipple gas pain can strike any part of the body, so try gasx or phasyme. It worked and kept him virtually pain free. Good luck.

HOw about the "burning" feeling? Has that been an issue? When did your husband have the whipple? WHat stage was he in? How is he now?

My dad was just recently diagnosed with stage IIb pancreatic cancer that has spread to the spleen & maybe 3 lymph nodes. We are going to UVA to see if he is operable next week. We saw the oncologist this week & she explained that my dad's back pain may be related to the celiac plexus being involved. This is how she explained it to us...the celiac plexus is a "clover leaf" of blood vessels & nerves that lies just behind the pancreas. When the pancreas is enlarged (due to mass or swelling), it puts pressure on this area & can cause back, groin, & testicular swelling & pain.

My daughter has suffered from back pain since her Whipple
procedure/liver transplant two months ago. She is only four so
she can't describe it very well. We think it is caused by gas, but
we aren't sure why she feels it in her back instead of in her
stomach. It is worse before a BM. She has been taking creon with
her meals. It has helped with her digestion but not with the pain.
Her cancer marker (AFP) has been going down with chemo so I am
pretty certain that the pain is not from metastisis. I can't find any
other children who have had this procedure so I am searching to
find the effects it has had on anyone else who has had one.