Pancreatic Cancer Group: Introduce yourself and connect with others

Hello,
I'm Cathy and I live in Portland OR. I have been married for almost 24 years and we have a 13 year old daughter.
I was very recently diagnosed. I am scheduled to have surgery this Friday (Jan 31,2020) The cancer is in the tail. I will be having my spleen removed along with the lesion. I am getting more scared and anxious. But trying very hard to keep a positive attitude. I have been walking every day, eating pretty well overall and drinking a lot of water. They told me I'll probably be in the hospital three to five days and after surgery i'll have chemotherapy. Thank you

We recently moved and I had to find new doctors. My new oncologist ordered a PET scan for me. Two doctors reviewed the results of my PET scan. The first one said the results were inconclusive. The second doctor said that there may be some evidence that my cancer has come back. I asked Mayo to review the reports. After looking over everything, Mayo scheduled me for a PET/MRI scan at the end of February. There has been no evidence of cancer for the past 5 1/2 years, so I am hoping that it was just a fluke with the scan. If the cancer has come back, I will not be able to proceed with a kidney transplant until the cancer has been addressed.

My fiancée was diagnosed October 2019. He had part of his pancreas taken out and has started chemo. Very intense. He was considered a stage 2 a. Where he is being treated they said they usually only see stage iv. I’m curious to no other way who are under a stage 4 what have ur treatments been and how are you doing. So many questions. Can’t really afford to go get another opinion.

How are you doing. Have you started chemo. My fiancée sounds exactly what you had. It was in the tail. He had surgery removed part of pancreas now is doing chemo. Just curious if you started chemo yet.

It will be three weeks tomorrow since I had surgery, part of my pancreas and my spleen. it's a slow road but i am doing well. Once I heal I'll be doing some chemo. I'll be seeing the oncologist soon to set up the chemo.

I am sitting here at Gonda 10 South at Mayo in Rochester. Had a PET/MRI done yesterday. This morning I was told that the test shows that after about 6 years my pancreatic cancer has come back. Waiting to meet with a surgeon to see what the next steps are. This puts any hopes for a kidney transplant on hold.

@marvinjsturing

You must be disappointed, Marvin. I hope you get encouraging news from the surgeon.

I've been thinking about you today and I'm glad that you posted an update. I'm continuing to pray for you.

@marvinjsturing I can't imagine what a punch in the gut that news must be. Did you see the surgeon today?

@colleenyoung ,We met with the pancreatic cancer surgeon yesterday. He explained that the tumor is surrounding the veins going to the stomach, the liver and the spleen. Because of this, surgery is not possible. The typical treatment in this case would radiation and an oral chemo. Because of my chronic kidney failure, I cannot have the chemo, so they are talking just radiation at this time. I have been scheduled for an endoscopic ultrasound with biopsy today. This is being done first to confirm that what they are seeing on the scan is cancer and second to determine how the radiation is to be given. They will be calling me on Monday with the results of the biopsy.

@marvinjsturing Hello Marvin,

I hope that you get a good prognosis from the EUS today. I look forward to hearing from you again.