I was diagnosed with non-functioning islet cell cancer in August of 06. I immediately had surgury to remove the tumor in the tail of the pancreas, the spleen and two tumors in the liver. Six months later I was put on chemo for numerous mets in the liver. I went into remission for 3 months and am currently back on chemo for liver mets.
I am confused about the prognosis of this disease. My doc said the tumors are slow growing and and you can live for many years. Research I have read on the internet says chemo helps prolong life by months not years. I was told this is a not curable but a treatable disease. I recently read that in treatable cancers most patients die from other causes rather than the cancer. The article did not mention specific types of cancer. My question is "Is islet cell the type that you die from other causes or from the cancer itself? What about liver failure?"
MW