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Decided not to have surgery. What’s next?
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: May 5 11:48pm | Replies (44)Comment receiving replies
Warren - I read your note with sadness. I wish I had the solution...but like so many others are experiencing, the solution is elusive.
My wife and I are at Mayo this week, completing her 3rd week of chemo radiation. Over the course of the week we have met again with the team of doctors and nurse practitioners, as we (she) tries to make a decision on surgery. Recall, this is the aggressive surgery involving vessel reconstruction, removing spleen, gall bladder etc. which will no doubt result in adjustments to her quality of life. We have set a surgery date for June 25 but are second guessing the plan daily as we seek additional guidance. In discussions this week, we learned opting out of the surgery of this nature is more common than we assumed - perhaps 30-40 percent as suggested by our oncologist. I agree with Marcia, even thought we may not have the solutions, its nice to chat and share with others going through similar situations.
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I have to say I am a bit surprised by the 30-40% who opt out of surgery. I think for all of us we just want to get to surgery, thinking that is our only chance to beat this. But clearly, with such high recurrence rates we know that is not the case. I opted for Truty surgery. Same as your wife. Locally advanced stage III with vein involvement. Opting out never crossed my mind. And yes, Truty is very frank about quality over quantity of life. I had surgery July 24, 2023. My pre surgical scans showed no active tumor and my CA19 was 12. I have to say I have definitely questioned if I made the right decision. Recovery was rough, and battling diabetes and Creon and daily GI issues has been extremely difficult for me. I was diagnosed at age 39. Surgery at 40. And in very good shape, physically. I met 3 other women having surgery with Truty last year, and they have all 3 had recurrences. We are currently watching lung nodules in my scans. I am not sure what I meant when posting this. I just want to say it is a very difficult decision to make. And absolutely will affect quality of life. But to me, it is LIFE. I have 2 kids in elementary school, so quantity over quality was my goal. I am 9.5 months out from surgery, and each day is better. I am back to running and lifting weights. And the GI stuff cant take years to balance out. I pray daily that I have those years in me. Best of luck to you and your wife, whatever decision is made.