My husband was diagnosed in Nov 2017. He start chemo in Dec 2017. He had 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of radiation and a chemo pump. Our surgeon at Mayo Rochester wanted the CA 10-9 at 200 or lower before he would perform the Whipple. In Nov 2018 the Whipple was done at mayo in Rochester. It was a success. He handle the chemo and radiation very well. Yes there were times that he felt yucky but knew he had to keep on pushing!!! And he did. His CA19-9 continually went down throughout treatment. Maybe not as fast as we would have liked but it did go down. That number is not the only piece of the puzzle that we need to look at but in his case it was a very important piece. His tumor did shrink also with the chemo/radiation. He had 9 months after the surgery with no chemo/radiation and no signs of any new cancer. That was until Feb 2019 when on a chest X-ray they found nodules on his lungs. Further imaging and a biopsy confirmed it was the same cell make up as the pancreatic cancer. So now it as metastized to his lungs. So more chemo. It has been a journey but with many prayers and support and the great Doctors and Mayo Rochester things are looking up.