Mom had whipple on August 1st...

griff35 · New User Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Ireland

My Mom aged 74 had a whipple procedure carried out on August 1st.
Everything happened so quickly, 5 weeks ago she was looking slightly jaundice so went to her doctor. The doctor immediately sent her to hospital .... Tests came back that she had a growth on her pancreas however the word Cancer was not mentioned at this stage.

She was transfered to another hospital 4 weeks ago for further tests, we then got a message that the surgeon wanted to speak to the family. The daignosis was a complete shock - Cancer of the Pancreas with a prognosis of 6 months without surgery and possibly 2 years if surgery was possible.

Thank God surgery was possible and was carried out on August 1st. The 10 hour wait was unbearable... Surgery went well and all visible cancer was removed, tumor was described as large at 3cm, it had not spread to other organs and a week ago we were told that the lymphnodes and glands were also cancer free. Great news, but the prognosis does not change.

Mom was released from hospital on Thursday last. Its great to have her home. But she isn't the same woman, she seems so distant and has a far off look in her eyes. I ask her whats on her mind and what she is thinking, she just says "will I ever be the same again?" of course I reassure her and say everything will be fine, in time. I know the time will come when we will have to discuss her passing to the other side but we're not ready for that yet. The thought of my Mom suffering with the pain of a spreading cancer is really too much for me to think about

Can anybody tell me about eating after the whipple procedure...My Mom just does not feel like eating, she says shes not hungry. When will her appetite come back.. The doctors say she needs to start eating to build up her strenght for Chemo which is planned for 6 weeks time.

Please say a prayer for my Mom.

edbellinger

I had a whipple surgery 5 and a half years ago. I was hard to eat at first and I became diabetic from the surgery. I also have to take digestive enzymes in order to absorb nutrients.

griff35 · New User Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Ireland

Hello edbellinger....Was the whipple surgery due to pancreatic cancer?
5 and a half years later is amazing considering the expected prognosis... I hope and pray that my Mom will have that much time.

edbellinger

Yes it was endocrine pancreatic cancer and it spread to my liver but it is a rare low grade type of cancer. I am getting some scans tomorrow and Tuesday to check on it and I hope and pray it is still pretty much dormant I have always had a positive outlook on life and I put my total trust in the hands of God. I will pray for you mother outcome from this will be good.

God Bless

griff35 · New User Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Ireland

My Mom went to see her Oncologist for the first time today... He told her that only about 5% of paitents would see any benefit from Chemo and because of her age and the possible side effects he couldnt gaurantee that the chemo would be any benefit to her, that the negative effects would probably outweigh any possilbe benefit....So he has left the decision to my mom wheather to have Chemo or not....it seems to me that without actually saying it he has advised her not to have the Chemo treatment.

What should she do, is Chemo really necessary in her case? Will it prolong her life?
The tumor was completely removed and there was no evidence that it had spread ( no trace in the lymph nodes). She has her first post op CT scan on Tuesday.

jessica026 · Regular Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 39

its a personal choice about chemo i guess..but i can tell you that it did not help my mom at all and she was a healthy 49 yr old woman...i guess it didnt do any harm since she normally felt pretty good after her treatments but it didnt slow the cancer down whatsoever

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