Pancreatic Cancer Group: Introduce yourself and connect with others

My husband was first diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma in Dec 2024 just before his 74th birthday. Had FOLFORINOX for 8 treatments, then distal pancreatectomy, then 4 more chemo treatments. Scans and CA19-9 showed all ok. A few months later the CA19-9 started to rise. At 6 months after chemo the CT showed nodules on the lungs. Too small to biopsy. After several scans, EUS, PET, 2 biopsies (finally), since February the tissue showed 'suspicious' for adenocarcinoma. Started chemo last Friday. Now on gematicine and Abraxane-3 weeks on, one week off, etc. Dr made it clear that surgery is not an option, and that the chemo is not curative this time, but palliative. meaning he will be on chemo as long as it is keeping the cancer at bay or until my husband has had enough. My husband asked the Dr about the prognosis; Dr only would give a very tentative estimate of up to a year. So now we have a new paradigm based on this life event. Meanwhile I am his primary everything.

@kyshoor
Hello, thank you for the reply. I have always been drinking whole milk and lots of cheese. I eat as much red meat as I can, with my stents I am limited on which ones I can eat. I eat lots of eggs also. I eat ice cream when I can. With the chemo I get I have the cold sensation and I only have a couple days in-between treatments that I can have anything cold. I am putting on a little weight I'm up about 11 lbs from my low. One of the main problems now is my taste sensation is gone and nothing tastes good anymore so I have to force myself to eat.

@granitedoug
I don't know if this is helpful and please check with your doctor. I've always been low-normal to underweight on the bmi scale so when I was diagnosed my doctor was concerned about my weight. I used to eat a really healthy diet, very little sugar and I watched my cholesterol. The dietitian told me to give up skim milk and low fat yogurt and switch to whole milk, full fat yogurt and cheese as a starting point. My oncologist told me that at this stage some sugar might be good for me. Just switching the fat content in my yogurt and keffir, and adding some cheese and occasional ice cream, has made me gain a lot of weight. I dont eat red meat but increased my chicken, fish and nuts and added homemade protein shakes to get more protein. I started this journey at 59 kg. 9 months later I weigh 65, even though I had one bout of diarrhea so bad i didn't eat for 5 days and lost 6 kg. So net gain of 12 kg.

Hello, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April of 2026 at the age of 56. I was having stomach pains for a few months. My Dr said it was heartburn and scheduled a upper endoscopy. But it was 3 months out. Pain was getting worse finally ordered an MRI and found a large tumor around my duodenum closing it off. With spots on my liver that were suspicious of cancer. They did a biopsy on the tumor and it was cancerous. They didn't biopsy my liver because of the location they felt they were to hard to get at. I started chemo treatments May 20th 2026. The first round hit me hard. I ended up in the hospital 3 days after treatment. I couldn't eat and what I did eat I vomited out. They found my duodenum was almost completely closed. They did an emergency procedure and put in 3 stents to open things up so I could eat. I ended up spending 9 days in the hospital. I also lost 50lbs and I wasn't heavy to begin with. I lost so much strength. With the stents they put in they put me on a strict diet. No fruits or vegetables nothing fiber. Basically the only meat I can eat is ground meat. That has made trying to gain weight hard. I have gained about 8 pounds back in the last 3 months. I'm on round 9 of chemo now. Each time gets a little better. I'm hoping to be able to go back to work in a few weeks. I have been off since May. I have been getting treated at my local cancer center. Next week I go to the Mayo clinic to get their opinion. My Dr says they won't do surgery because of the mutation into my liver. That means I have to live with the stents. My last PET scan showed nothing changed and nothing new. I'm scheduled for my second one in 3 weeks. Hopefully it will show progress. I have all the same issues that most people have that I have been reading. Stomach pains, gas, diarrhea, nausea, constipation. My taste buds are so bad nothing tastes good anymore. Even water is hard to drink. I Force myself to eat and drink because I know I need to.

@kyshoor I haven't had anything like that. @triciaot gave you an idea on adrenals and thyroid challenges with the meds. Has anyone suggested them before?

@tomrennie -He is feeling just stress waiting on the biopsy results. It been 2 weeks, anyone else have a biopsy take this long?

No not yet. They are telling us it's rare and they need more time.

@tomrennie -He is feeling just stress waiting on the biopsy results. It been 2 weeks, anyone else have a biopsy take this long?