Just diagnosed stage 1 pancreatic. Anyone treated without surgery?

The bile duct blockage was causing jaundice.

But thank goodness it was in that location to notify with jaundice at an early stage.

You’ve been through a lot @jeeplewis !

What a journey 🙏

@colleenyoung. Is this type of blood testing related in any way to the ctDNA test by Signatera? This blood test compares the dna of a biopsy with bits of dna circulating in the blood for the same tumor dna. Forgive me if my layman’s definition leaves a lot to be desired.

My wife had a stage 1b PDAC and had Distal surgery at Mayo in Rochester to remove about 2/3 of her pancreas, spleen and gall bladder. I had the same surgery almost a year later for a PNET. Anyway, for my wife her 11 rounds of foldirinox and 3 weeks of radiation pre surgery were more difficult than the actual 5 or so day recovery from surgery, although she had some complications. So my point is that there should be no worry about surgery, if you wait, a stage one will be stage something more in no time at all and then you could be in a pickle. By having surgery you will get monitored for years and that’s reassuring. My wife’s symptoms were intense persistent nausea and backache. The cancer was found by some luck but due to her insistence on getting a second opinion. Finding Mayo was also luck. You’ve got an early diagnosis get the cancer removed. Finally, the c-19 was an unreliable test for my wife. The signatera is better and gives my wife added comfort that the cancer is not coming back. But you have to have surgery for that since you need to biopsy the actual tumor. Good luck to you!

My husband was just diagnosed with state 1B pancreatic cancer. He had Whipple surgery and home in about 9 days. He is 82 but was in excellent health and played golf about 3x/ week and always cut his on grass in the heat of Florida. He is trying to get stronger after loosing about 15+ lbs. Been to oncologist associated with Cleveland Clinic and will be starting chemo (gemcitabine via IV + Xeloda in pill form) for about 6 months. Three days on for 3 weeks and then week off. Any others with similar experience. We are told only about a 30% success rate.

Hello @ctt1003, and welcome to the Pancreatic support group on Mayo Clinic Connect. We have many members on Connect who have been treated for pancreatic cancer, including @tomrennie, @marciak9, @mnewland99, @markymarkfl and many others. I hope that they will post with you and offer encouragment based on their own experiences.

How long ago was his Whipple procedure? Is he eating fairly well, or is he losing weight? We have a discussion group on Connect about eating after digestive tract surgery, which you might find helpful. Here is the link to that discussion group,
--How Do I Eat After Digestive Tract Surgery
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-i-eat-after-digestive-tract-surgery/
In this group, you will find many others who will discuss their eating plans after a Whipple procedure.

As this is your first post, please share, as you are comfortable doing so, a bit about your husband's journey with pancreatic cancer. Was he having symptoms, what type of diagnostic tests revealed his cancer? How is he feeling post-surgery?

@behr66 I will share my experience in case it’s helpful. Diagnosed just about a year ago, early Feb 2025, at age 71. In excellent shape. Adenocarcinoma stage 1 in head of pancreas. A shock. Symptoms came on all of a sudden - fine 1 day, sick the next - were nausea, extremely weird stools, and a tight and uncomfortable feeling across my upper abdomen. All due to tumor blocking my bile ducts. Once I knew my diagnosis and was told I was a candidate for surgery, along with receiving chemo, I was ready to go. The surgery did sound scary, but I did not like the alternative, I knew I wanted to go for whatever would give me the best prognosis and longer life, I was not ready to check out. After 5 rounds of chemo I had the Whipple. Recovery was not as bad as it might have been or as I expected. Recovered 90% within a month. Did lie around and have others help me for that month, had to work on eating and not losing too much weight. Chemo wasn’t horrible either, they’ve so improved - at least this was my experience - and fine-tuned it, I was not nauseous though foods all tasted different. Lost 20 lbs at my lowest (from 126-106), so focus all fall was stop losing and get weight back on, Started back at my gym 2 months after the Whipple and while receiving the last 7 rounds of chemo, no more lying around allowed, lol! Have put half the weight back on and I feel great these days!