besrus5--Well, cancer comes in many types and forms. Insofar as Pancreatic Cancer and the one you posted, there are likely a few differences. First, after a follow up for my BPH surgery in 2009, My Urologist said "we aren't going any further until after you've had a CT scan at North Memorial Hospital." The next day a call from my Primary Care doctor said "it looks like you might have cancer and I'd suggest an Endoscopy to validate the type of cancer and any malignincy." Two days later the Endoscopy showed (1) it was the part of which are responsible for the operation and control of The Isles of Langerhorns which controls your bodies enzymes (basically for digestion and (2)Hormones which affect the Thyroid function, etc.

The next point we had to discuss, a close friend, myself and the Oncologist was "what form of treatment were we going to pursue?" With my blood Baseline, pharmacological history due to epilepsy all my life and the size of the growth when diagnosed; we decided to go with 28 radiation treatments which guideways were pin pointed on my chest with 3 dye pins that would guide the rays toward the tumors hopeful destruction. The baseline and other tests didn't show improvement--so another decision had to be made. Which type of chemotherapy would be the strongest, but least harmful to my system? Especially after a life on ani-seizure medicines for epilepsy.

It was determined that Adriamyacin and Streptozocin would be the most logical. Even at that time, I was told "you can have possible adverse affects to your heart operation at about 5 years later. Instead, my Kidneys went from normal to Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease, due to the toxcity of the chemo. At that point, I started watching my diet more closely.

The next step was continued Chemo treatment with Targeted Chemo, which went toward the tumor cells itself rather than whole body. 12 cycles of Sutent pills=1 Capsule a day for 30 days--times the 12 months. Then last, came Affinitor, another Targeted Chemo capsule 30 days for 3 months. Sandostatin was thought to be our last hope, since it was often able to shrink the growth size of these tumors. I quit after 2 shots, because I wasn't about to spend 24 hours in the bathroom each time, nor did I want to be taking diahreals.

Throughout this period of time, I was advised by Oncologist, Dietician and staff; snack instaed of eat your meals so as to avoid constipation. Then my weight started going down, from a loss of 30 lbs. in 3 moths without trying. I also lost 2 1/2 inches around the waist. Finally, two months ago I signed a Palliative Care form with my Oncologist, which lead to my placement in Pancreatic Cancer Hospice.

Here, there is no more treatment, but only the desire to enjoy The Quality of Life during this end of life stage. The other factor in changing this was first (it was the Islet Cell of the Pancreas. Next, that mestasized to a solid liver growth and 2 uptake areas. Then uptake area's were seen in the Spleen, in the GI and GU tracts. That was where my status was changed to Pancreatic Cancer. Since it was outside of its original area and as my Oncologis said "being in the liver meant it was now in my blood."

It's hard to go much farther than that due to the differences in our bodies systems and function. I know that I need a lot more sleep,naps, and have less energy. I'm 77 1/2 years old and seek to enjoy each day the best I can..

irvkay312 Mentor