Hello @patti1952

The Whipple procedure was developed by a Dr. Whipple back in the 1930's. It is a surgery for early stage pancreatic cancer patients.. (Although doctors at Mayo are developing procedures that are allowing them to successfully do surgery on patients with more advanced stages now.) In a typical Whipple, the surgeon removes the cancerous tumor from the pancreas, the duodenum, the gall bladder and part of the stomach. The surgeon then attaches the stomach and the pancreas to the small intestine.

In my case, I had already had gall bladder surgery, so the surgeon removed my duodenum, 1/3 of my stomach and most of my pancreas. What was left of my pancreas was so bad that the surgeon did not attach it to the digestive system. The pancreas makes insulin and digestive enzymes. I am now a Type I diabetic and I have to get the digestive enzymes in capsules every time I eat.

If you have any other questions, let me know and I will try to answer them.

Marv

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