My dad is 58 yrs old. He was dx with PC in May 06 and had the whipple in July 06, where a 3.4 cm tumor was removed from the head of the pancreas, the duodenum and the gallbladder removed, 3 out of the 11 lymph nodes removed were positive, liver intact and all margins negative. During the surgery it was discovered that the tumor was growing on the base of pancreas and on the superior mesenteric artery. The surgeon cleaned out as much as he could on the MSA, but he felt there were microscopic cells left behind. Pathology report, confirmed those findings.
Four weeks post whipple he developed an infection on the surgical incision and was put on oral antibiotics for ten days. Two days ago he went in for a follow-up and the surgeon felt he needed to be hospitalized for a few days to do IV antibiotics. They did a CT scan this morning and discovered that the infection was superficial and not too deep, which is good news. Unfortunately, they found a small lesion in his liver. (This is what has me more concerned) Does that mean that cancer has spread to the liver? Can someone please inform me.
He will be starting chemo/radiation (that was the plan prior to the infection) with standard treatment for PC and also participating in a clinical trial. It will all take 6 months.
It has been 7 wks since surgery and he is slowly recovering. He is eating small frequent meals, with tons of protein, on insulin (he has been diabetic for 5 yrs and oral meds, but his MD feels he will not be on insulin for too long), takes enzymes to help with digestion, also down to two vicodin a day for the pain on his back. Up to this point, I had been very optimistic, but now I am scared. Please, any advice, comments, questions are appreciated.
Silvia