My father in law was dx today. He had the whipple surgery performed on 10-11-10. 9 Lymph nodes were tested and 2 were positive for cancer. He is 78, in good health. The whipple surgery was a T incision with staples. He is in a lot of pain. I will post more when I can view the pathology report.
My father in law was dx today. He had the whipple surgery performed on 10-11-10. 9 Lymph nodes were tested and 2 were positive for cancer. He is 78, in good health. The whipple surgery was a T incision with staples. He is in a lot of pain. I will post more when I can view the pathology report.
The fact the he was eligible for the Whipple is really a wonderful thing! eating will not be too pleasant for awhile but help him get his strength back as quickly as possible. Good luck to your family!
The fact the he was eligible for the Whipple is really a wonderful thing! eating will not be too pleasant for awhile but help him get his strength back as quickly as possible. Good luck to your family!
There are many great resources on the web, which I don't think I can put in here. One is a very large hospital on the east coast that specializes in pancreas cancer. They have a fantastic support/inform website.
There are also several support options now, as opposed to when my mom was diagnosed. It is starting to get some much-needed funding and recognition. Hang in there!
I agree with Paticake, the fact they did the surgery is a good sign as too often patients are too far advanced to have the surgery or the surgery is stopped once the patient is opened up.
RM, the IIB is a good thing. They will do a pancreodudectomy (sp?) and take out the nodes that are involved. Hopefully that will get the visible cells & tumor. They will go adjuvant therapy such as chemo and/or radiation. It is a long haul, but certainly worth the fight! You will need to see that he builds his strength as eating is sometimes difficult. Keep us posted!
I too went thru this.I am 57 only.It appears he had a sound health before surgery,else the surgeons woudn't have done this.The internal pain will go slowly but he has to do some strtching while in the bed.He should try to sleep on his sides as long as possible with muscles stretching, and "within the limits of pain" is the keyword.Next morning see the change he feels.Hope this will work for him.Let me know if he is walking around freely and able to lift a little weight, like pulling or pushing a chair.
Pancreatic Cancer / Adenocarcinoma 
