pancreatic cancer with liver mets

jchirico99 · New User Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 1

My perfectly healthy father of 3 boys, who is probably one of the coolest ppl I know, has been diagnosed with pancreatic carcenoma with liver mets.

about 6 months ago he had some pain in his abdomen, it got so bad that he had to go to the er.

This is someone that never ever complains about anything.

They did a ct scan and bloodwork, and they diagnosed him with acute pancreatitis with a fatty liver and gaulstones.

they said to change the diet and such.

he went on for 5 months after this with some pain still, but it got worse again about 2 weeks ago. he has worked for the last 35 years as he owns his own buisness's, and works 14 hours a day even up until about 2 weeks ago when he started hurting again. I hate to see my father like this!

He went to the E.R. again this time, and they said it was probably his gaulbladder so they did an ultrasound,and they picked up some spots on his liver, so they sent him for a CT scan with contrast, it showed up with a 3 by 4 cm tumor on the body of his pancreas, and many tumors in his liver the biggest being 3.4 sm, I recall about 4-5 large ones.

I know the diaganosis is probably right, but if he had pancreatic cancer in this stage shouldnt his ca-19-9 be above 17 and also his pancreatic enzymes are good and so is his liver,and he is not jaundice.

but he does hurt. he says advil works the best and thats what he has taken for 5 months now.

we are getting the biopsy done tomm. and I am scared, becasue the doctor said his ca19-9 should have been elevated but the ct scan looks no good.

what do you guys think. to look at him he looks good.

please pray for him.

brainman

jchirico99, I am very sorry about your father's health problems. Until he has the biopsy, there really is no way to know for sure what he has, although the CT is normally a good tool to detect Pancreatic Cancers.

I do not know the answer to the ca-19-9 question. Maybe someone else more informed about Pancreatic Cancer can help with that.

The lack of jaundice is not uncommon. Jaundice if it does occur, will happen later when his liver function is really affected by the tumors. So far, it seems like his liver is still working fine.

Pancreatic Cancer is one of the worse cancer a person can have. Not only does it cause so many debilitating symptoms, but we have so little we can do to treat it. It is a very aggressive cancer and your father should get aggressive treatment for it.

You and your father are in my thoughts and prayers. Keep us informed.
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karolynca · Experienced user Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 51

My dad had a Stage III Tumor, his pancreas was compromised a little however his CA-19-9 was never above 17...not even at time of death. Of course my dad had other organ compromised...the Liver which was actually more compromised than the pancreas itself. I would say CT Scan and then Biopsy are the best methods to just know for sure.
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Dad ~ Passed away from Multiorgan failure due to secondary liver cancer on July 2008

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