Pancreatic Cancer Support Group

My husband was just diagnosed last week.....I think it would be very helpful to talk to someone who is going through this!
Debbie

I was diagnosed in January of this year, but my diagnosis was not just mine. It hit both my wife and me equally hard. Sometimes my wife’s struggles seem more difficult than mine. As my caregiver she gives her all to help me through my physical and emotional challenges. I am also her caregiver in that she needs my help with her very real struggles. It is a two way street. Love is getting us through.

The BEST thing you can do is talk to a survivor or someone going through it.
Even better is to find a “cancer buddy” someone near you also going through it. I had three and although two since passed, the one is is struggling but hanging in there.
It is survivable! Everyone knows some who died from it and now you know some who survived it. I only tell everyone my story and it is empowering. My diagnosis was September, 2020. Early detection and quick action at Topper Clinic, LVHN, in Allentown, Pa is the key to my survival. I don’t know where your at, but if you can go there, they don’t fight cancer; they go to war with it. And make sure you get a nurse navigator assigned to you from the treating facility, not one from your insurance company. They don’t really know you but the nurse/nav from your facility has a vested interest in your success.
It was something out of a horror movie. Seven weeks of complications of every sort.
This is not at like all those medical dramas on TV where the patient wakes up looking like they just had a Sunday afternoon nap. Thank god for the awareness, but don’t make it a fashion statement or minimize the the impact. Many people said to me “this is just a bump in the road”. It is not.
To me, it was more of a gift if you can believe that. The gift of clarity: I suddenly saw everyone as they really are. This turns your life upside down and tears it apart if you allow it.
Good luck, Godspeed, and welcome to the club. You are one of Us now. It not a club anyone wants to join, but once your are in, you’ll find nothing but support here.

I went through the same thing. During my cancer treatment, my wife was having all sort of hip trouble. Once I was out of the hospital and on chemo, she had to have BOTH hips replaced. I was her caregiver while wearing an infusion pump. It kept my mind off my situation.
No one goes through cancer alone is not just a slogan, it is the reality. Neither mine or my wife’s family were their to help or support us, but friends and neighbors all stepped up. Shakespeare once wrote “That which does not kill us makes us stronger” couldn’t have been more true of cancer survivors as We must be stronger to help those around us who struggle even though we are facing down the barrel of death.

So glad to hear from a "survivor." My husband goes in for surgery on Friday. His was caught early too!! He is having the Whipple procedure and from what I've read it's no walk in the park....... For now just need your prayers!

Is the meeting going on now? I am waiting for the meeting to start. I am on the east coast! Thank you!

Oops! Wrong date!

I’m just beginning this awful journey. Found in October when I was jaundiced. They took my gallbladder out end of November. I just had my second round of chemo. It is rough. I’m glad they give me a week off to recuperate.

Husbands' surgery went very well..........Recovery time!!

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCan.org) has their Survivor and Caregiver Network (SCN) consisting of survivors as well as caregivers who are matched to a patient based on diagnosis and when possible, in the same geographic area. I have been mentoring patients and their caregivers since 2017 using my experience not only as a 10.5 year survivor of stage IV pancreatic cancer that initially had a Whipple, did two standard of care treatments, a clinical trial, but also had a 40 year career in cancer, immunology and stem cell research.

To participate in the program, contact PanCan.org at 1.877.272.6226, M-F, 7:00am-5-00pm PT. PanCan is closed over the holiday period and will reopen on Tuesday, January 3rd at 7:00am PT.
https://pancan.org/facing-pancreatic-cancer/patient-services/survivor-and-caregiver-network/
http://media.pancan.org/pdf/hcp-assets/Survivor-Caregiver-Network-Fact-Sheet-PanCAN-0621.pdf