@casey1959 My 73 year old wife has locally advanced pancreatic cancer and opted not to have the Whipple after getting the opinions of 3 surgeons. My wife's tumor is wrapped around the SMV and SMA arteries. Dr. Truty of Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN (https://www.mayoclinic.org/biographies/truty-mark-j-m-d-m-s/bio-20055639), told her that her surgery would be "way beyond a Whipple". Dr. Truty is nationally known for doing "tricky" Whipple's. He was very forthcoming on what the surgery might do to my wife's quality of life if she elected to have it done. He told her she wouldn't feel as good as she did when we met. He also told us that neither chemo nor radiation would shrink the tumor off of the arteries. Dr. Truty was totally honest and we are very glad we went to see him. Before going to Mayo, my wife had 11 rounds of folfirinox (which shrunk the tumor a significant amount) and after visiting with Dr. Truty had radiation done at Dana Farber in Boston since they have an MRI guided radiation machine (Linac?) which allowed for intensive doses over 5 days. So far, knock on wood, no evidence of spread! You're facing a very tough decision and I wish you good luck in that and in combatting the cancer!