Introduce

Just my .02, but you can't deal with the side effects of one more chemo infusion session? I went through 12 of Folfirinox with the pump for two days. It wasn't pleasant but did a good job on my cancer until one liver tumor that refused to respond. I I were you, I'd tough out the last chemo session. I'm 75.

During my discussion with my oncologist about my treatment and upcoming surgery she convinced me that even though the mass has responded well to chemo it would be 6-8 weeks before the actual surgery. That convinced me to accept her offer of 25% reduction of all 3 chemicals. Last night wasn’t that bad and get the pump removed tomorrow. Glad see she changed my mind!!

For the Whipple you need to get in as good a shape as you can. Set it up afterwards to have some home health come out and some physical therapy. Walk as soon as you can after the surgery, and it will mean using pain meds. You may need insulin and pancreatic enzymes. People are different. And watch for blood clots from chemo and then the surgery. I had the surgery first and tried chemo, but it attached my other poor health conditions in less than 24 hours, and I stopped them at the on-call doctors' advice and never went back for more. Age does have a bit to do with it in as far as it generally reflects a person's health. Younger people can have other serious health conditions that the chemo can make really bad. I have read of others that had to go to the hospital as a result of what chemo did to them and others that can sail through chemo with just minor side effects. It is just different for people.

Good luck to you with your surgery.

I'm glad she changed your mind too, sir. Good luck.

You are at a center of excellence- MSK and are in good hands! Regarding the tumor size, did you mean cm instead of mm? Either way, that’s a great size for your discovery to have been made. How did it come about may I ask?
Also, as someone who quit smoking at 34 years old, (many years ago), you’re going to get through your surgery and recovery better if you could put that habit to rest. Good luck with that, but you can do it. My husband is almost 2 months post smoking now as he got a very bad case of pneumonia recently; you can do it!

Thanks for your input! I did mean cm. My symptoms were obvious problems with my digestive system. And weight loss, no appetite. I think I was lucky to get the CT scan done right away. And set up a meeting with the surgeon 2 weeks later. He was on holiday in Europe. Next was the camera down my throat and she added stents to liver and bile ducts. I will try to stop smoking after recovery from surgery. Can’t smoke in hospital!

You were extremely lucky @cyrus73 to get symptoms early, but especially lucky to have a good dr recognize the testing that needed to be done. My symptoms of a sudden onset of uncontrollable very high blood sugar started in April (or maybe before) and my Kaiser dr (a gp) set me up with an LVN who sent me links on how to destress. I also had back pain and asked for an exray on my hip but that showed nothing also. When I turned 65 I switched to Blue Shield and a new provider and I was able to go to an endocrinologist who wanted to order a CT of my pancreas. But that was in October. I always wonder if I would have been actually a stage 1 back in April. Count your blessings and btw nicotine gum can be a good substitute.