New diagnosis of early and small pancreatic cancer, Whipple at Mayo?

Of course, I am not a doctor, but I had been followed every 3 months and had no symptoms other than Pancreatitis a year prior and a resident visiting my Primary doctor wanted to check my Lipase which increases with pancreatitis. It was some higher than it was when I left the hospital. they referred me Duke GI who did an upper endoscopy...clear. Then MRI or CTs every quarter. Clean until September 2020 when my GI doctor just thought something was blocking my bile duct and decided to do another Upper Endoscopy the nest quarter. They did a CA19-9 and it came back at 100 (norm is 0-40). I wish I had pushed them to do it ASAP. It would have had me in treatment 3 months earlier and surgery earlier and it could have made all the difference in one node of 20 being positive even though no evidence of involvement outside of head of pancreas. So if you ask me and since you are worried, I would ask them to do it earlier...say around June/July. Talk to a GI specialist for opinion. You be your own advocate.

The CA19-9 which doctor can do this.......My GI doctor is 4 hours away from me. My internal medicine doctor could she do this for me?

Hello All, Thank you so much for sharing your stories. I am finding optimism in reading your entries. I have a new question. Is there anyone on here from Illinois (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois)? I am having trouble figuring out coverage- the customer service is dismal- and can anyone share their experience with out of network coverage for these major expenses (whipple, consultations, etc).

Hope, you may be able to get help about out-of-network insurance coverage from Mayo Clinic Patient Account Services for assistance. See their contact info here: https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/contact-us

I am a patient of Dr. Stauffer at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. I was to have 3 radical surgeries 2/28/22 unfortunately after laproscopic procedure malignant spots, undetected by the 2nd MRI, we had to cancel the entire surgeries. Dr.Stauffer is amazing, personable and truly wants the best for his patients. I encourage you to try and become his patient and you may be a candidate for the nanoknife trial which is much easier on the body and easier to recover from than what he had hoped to do for me. He, my oncologist and primary care internist are researching ALL trials and options to give me quality time with my family.