1. < Pancreatic Cancer
Profile picture for kfcrain

Stage 1B pancreatic tail cancer - surgical removal, now chemo

Posted by kfcrain @kfcrain, Jan 21 9:44pm

On Dec 9, 2025 I had an unrelated CT chest test for cardiac reason. It identified a mass in my pancreatic tail. A 4 cm mass. I had a CT chest exam four years ago and mass was not there. On Dec 11 I had an endoscopy. It was diagnosed to be cancer (the bad type - one that begins with an A). On Dec 16 I had a CT abdomen exam, which showed no spread to other organs, no spread to lymph nodes, no spread to vascular. My CA 19-9 test was 232. My CEA was 2.1

On Dec 24 I had robotic surgery. My pancreatic tail and spleen were removed. The tumor tested during surgery had negative margins. I went home on Dec 27. Surgery recovery has been good. A month later I am walking 8,000-10,000 steps a day. Appetite is normal. Very little discomfort.

I had Oncology appointment this week. My blood work - CA 19-9 was now 7.7. Glucose was 113. All other blood work normal. Post surgery pathology showed no cancer in 21 lymph nodes and being stage 1B. Tumor showed no abnormality for genetics

The oncology recommendation was 6 months of preventative chemo. The aggressive chemo FloroFox. 2X a month. It starts Feb 3. It somewhat scares me given the bad stories you read about it. But given my good fortune so far with such a bad cancer I want to do whatever I can to have a reasonable good future.

I am 65 years old. Walk/exercise every day. Never have smoked. Never drank. Doctors said my health should help

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Pancreatic Cancer Support Group.

Profile picture for mcoplien
mcoplien | @mcoplien | Jan 28 8:32am
In reply to @kfcrain "Thank you for sharing that. And I am sorry to hear about the reoccurence. Did your..." + (show)
Profile picture for kfcrain @kfcrain

Thank you for sharing that. And I am sorry to hear about the reoccurence. Did your husband also have a round of chemo post surgery? It is interesting that it was recommended to have chemo before surgery. In my case, that was not discussed, the decision was to go to surgery quickly. They did surgery two weeks after the initial incidental finding of the mass in the pancreatic tail.

Jump to this post

@kfcrain
No chemo or treatment after surgery just close surveillance. Mike was healthy and ready for surgery right away but they did not recommend it. We went to Mayo clinic they recommended the same thing, although I think they would have done surgery after 4 months of chemo not 6 months.

REPLY
Profile picture for sorbiodunum
sorbiodunum | @sorbiodunum | 13 hours ago

Just thought I would update on our journey after incidental discovery of 4 cm cancerous tumour in the tail of the pancreas last November. As I wrote before, my 73 year old husband was healthy, strong, with no symptoms. Oncology team prescribed 8X fulfirinox and 5FU, then surgery, then 4X fulfirinox after surgery recovery. He went through 8 chemos with few side effects, mild cold neuropathy, kept ahead of nausea with meds and walked 4 or 5 miles daily. Determination at its best. After a month they operated…11 and a half hours on the table, where they removed his pancreas from the ‘neck’ down, leaving the head of the pancreas, splenic artery, spleen, and a graft of his portal vein as the cancer was entangled around it. A dozen lymph nodes harvested. Big operation! Post surgery pathology showed chemo had done very little to the tumour (10% shrinkage) although contained any spread maybe. There were still live cancer cells within tumour upon removal. Good margins. One lymph node was cancerous but they did not seem concerned?! He recovered very well, no digestive or diabetic issues. Lost a total of 11 lbs. through whole ordeal. He has now golfing nine holes (walking) 2 months after surgery, living a normal life. Since surgery he has developed mild neuropathy in fingers, feet and calves. Bothersome at most. They said chemo side effects can develop for a year or more after treatment. It may go away, remain the same or get worse. As chemo did not really work and neuropathy started, he was told to decide whether the last 4X of chemo was wanted…. It didn’t work the first 8 times and would definitely contribute to more neuropathy. He chose to skip it and enjoy the summer. CT scan follow up in October. Until then we are living…grandchildren, friends, short trips. Truly blessed.

REPLY
1 reply
Profile picture for cbeard1
cbeard1 | @cbeard1 | 3 hours ago
In reply to @sorbiodunum "Just thought I would update on our journey after incidental discovery of 4 cm cancerous tumour..." + (show)
Profile picture for sorbiodunum @sorbiodunum

Just thought I would update on our journey after incidental discovery of 4 cm cancerous tumour in the tail of the pancreas last November. As I wrote before, my 73 year old husband was healthy, strong, with no symptoms. Oncology team prescribed 8X fulfirinox and 5FU, then surgery, then 4X fulfirinox after surgery recovery. He went through 8 chemos with few side effects, mild cold neuropathy, kept ahead of nausea with meds and walked 4 or 5 miles daily. Determination at its best. After a month they operated…11 and a half hours on the table, where they removed his pancreas from the ‘neck’ down, leaving the head of the pancreas, splenic artery, spleen, and a graft of his portal vein as the cancer was entangled around it. A dozen lymph nodes harvested. Big operation! Post surgery pathology showed chemo had done very little to the tumour (10% shrinkage) although contained any spread maybe. There were still live cancer cells within tumour upon removal. Good margins. One lymph node was cancerous but they did not seem concerned?! He recovered very well, no digestive or diabetic issues. Lost a total of 11 lbs. through whole ordeal. He has now golfing nine holes (walking) 2 months after surgery, living a normal life. Since surgery he has developed mild neuropathy in fingers, feet and calves. Bothersome at most. They said chemo side effects can develop for a year or more after treatment. It may go away, remain the same or get worse. As chemo did not really work and neuropathy started, he was told to decide whether the last 4X of chemo was wanted…. It didn’t work the first 8 times and would definitely contribute to more neuropathy. He chose to skip it and enjoy the summer. CT scan follow up in October. Until then we are living…grandchildren, friends, short trips. Truly blessed.

Jump to this post

@sorbiodunum Great news! Enjoy your life and your family. My husband is 72 and just rang the bell last Thursday after 4 months of chemo. Surgery will take place after he goes through radiation. His chemo shinked his tumor slightly so we felt that was positive. He had a reaction to the Folfirinox after the first round and had to have surgery for a bowel obstruction. Unfortunately that set his chemo treatment back by 6 weeks due to recovering from the surgery. His Gemcitabine/Abraxane chemo went very well. Not side effects other than fatigue, loss of taste, and mild nausea the day of chemo managed with Zofran/Compazine. I am hopeful that his surgical experience is successful and he recovers as well as your husband. Thanks for sharing a positive story of this battle. It gives us all hope.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.