I concur that, with this cancer in particular, your best bet is to find a Center of Excellence if at all possible. I realize there may be barriers—time, travel, financial, etc.—but there are very good reasons to do it if you can. I don’t know where you live, but Mayo might actually be closer to you. And if you can get to Mpls there are regular shuttles to Mayo.

I get my care at MN Oncology (MO) in Mpls which is affiliated with Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Mayo is a Center of Excellence. My oncologist at MO works closely with the teams—and had trained—at Mayo. I like the arrangement. It’s like having on-going second opinions. So far, they’ve always been on the same page.

I was diagnosed in March 2023. That year I had 12 rounds of chemo (6 months) and a Whipple procedure. I was seen by my MO oncologist regularly (every two weeks) and had the treatments in Minneapolis. After my initial consultation with him we decided to make the referral to Mayo for the surgery. I wanted someone who does this surgery weekly rather than just a few times a year. So, I had the Whipple done at Mayo and saw a member of their oncology team whenever I was there for testing, consultation and/or surgery follow-up.

Since the beginning of this year I have had testing and seen an oncologist at Mayo every 3 months and see my oncologist at MO every three months.

Your treatment plan will probably be different than mine, but I wanted to give you a sense of what might be in the cards going forward and give you something to chew on. But I know you’ve got a lot to chew on already. Having a cancer diagnosis is a challenging situation.

I wish you all the best.