I was diagnosed with Bile Duct cancer in January 2008 and had a whipple operation in February. The one thing I would recommend would be to find a doctor that does a lot of these operations. The operation is very rare and complicated and the recovery/survival rate is much higher with an experienced surgeon. In my case the hospital I was originally at in Tampa would not even do the operation. They had me transferred to a another hospital in Tampa and a doctor that does 3-4 of these operations a month. It really makes a difference.