How did you pick a hospital for pancreatic cancer care?
Hi-I just found out that my aunt has a high probability of having pancreatic cancer. They detected a cyst in her pancreas while screening for something else about 6 months ago. In a follow-up screening, they now think they see a mass that is affecting her gall bladder. She has elevated levels of CEA (6.2) and CA 19-9 (around 1532). She will be having a EUS this next week.
And while further investigation could change everything, right now it looks like the mass has not spread to the arteries or veins or nearby organs (I may not be saying this right, I'm new to this), so she could be a candidate for surgery.
So if we get the worst news (and even if we don't) we would like her to go to a hospital that specialized in pancreatic care. So I guess my question here is how hard is it to get a placement right now? We are looking at Mayo in Arizona, Cleveland Clinic, MD Anderson, and a few others. But I have heard that MD Anderson has a wait of about a month, which seems too long to me.
Should we be signing her up for every major we can find in the hopes of getting her the soonest appointment? What strategies did people use? Am I overthinking all of this?
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Pancreatic Cancer Support Group.
Your oncologist was wrong. Pancreatic cancer doesn’t always spread in 2 to 3 years especially if it’s caught very early and removed. That must be an oncologist with limited experience with pancreatic cancer. Please go to a pancreatic center of excellence. You will get much better service from more qualified medical professionals.
I can't find James on the NPF Pancreatic CoE list.
Try googling The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. This includes The James Comprehensive Cancer Center. It’s an NPF from what I can see.
Ah, ok, didn't see James.