Pancreatic Cancer Group: Introduce yourself and connect with others

Hi, I'm @mscarano and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October 2019. However, biopsy was not conclusion. I went to Memorial Sloan Kettering and they recommend surgery to remove the tumor (stage 2?). However, after opening me up they decided is was wrapped around veins more complex then they thought and did not remove the tumor (but biopsy from surgery confirmed carcinoma. I then went on 4 months chemo and 4 weeks radiation. Current diagnosis is slight shrinkage but too risky to do surgery. More treatment does not increase chance for survival. Now in wait and see mode to see if tumor has been killed. Next scan is December.

I have decided to get a second opinion from Dr. Mark Trudy, which is currently being triaged. My one question to the group is my consistent "bowel purge events". I can't seem to go more than 10 days without the event, which is emptying my bowels totally, but not diarrhea, but sometimes a little at the end. I have increased my enzymes to 4 pills (36,000) at breakfast and lunch, 5 for dinner and 2 for snacks. I lost about 55 lbs from my normal weight but over the past few months have stabilized around 137 lbs (6 ft tall), work my way up to about 144 before having the "purge" event and then back to 137 lbs. I also salivate into a cup when having the purge event most times. All doctors say is to work on better managing enzymes, but this cycle has been going on for months.

That's ii for now.

I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late April, 2007. My diagnosis came as result of awakening one morning with jaundiced skin. My wife and daughter insisted that I see my primary physician to determine cause. He initially suspected gall bladder, but did not feel right about that and asked me to enter hospital for more extensive tests. The tests confirmed that I had pancreatic cancer. A local surgeon stated the cancer was on an artery and could not be surgically removed. He estimated the cancer to be early stage 3. What he and the local oncologist failed to tell me was that there are a select few surgeons in this country who can sometimes perform this surgery, depending upon the exact nature of the arterial location. In addition, the next morning, while still in hospital, an oncologist contacted by my primary physician told me my cancer was "the worst of the worst and there was no cure". He added that I was "as old as dirt anyway". I was 82 at the time, but I had and still have three living siblings older than me and my dad lived to 97. My wife fired him that day.
I requested to start a chemotherapy regimen and I spent many hours researching on my computer and found that Mayo clinic not only had several surgeons qualified to perform arterial resection to remove the cancer, but they even showed a diagram of it on their website. I immediately contacted their Jacksonville, Florida clinic, which is about a seven hour drive from my home in south Alabama.
I requested and was granted an appointment with one of two surgeons at that clinic who is skilled in whipple procedures involving arterial resection. After MRI, CT scan and other testing, he advised I was a candidate for surgery. He suggested I complete six chemo treatments prior to surgery. When I returned for surgery, the chemo had broken up the arterial involvement (which the surgeon and oncologist both stated was very rare) and arterial resection was not necessary, He did perform the whipple procedure, and I tested cancer free in all quarterly check-ups during the first year following surgery. At my fifth check up a small spot appeared at the site of the surgery on the pancreas, but the surgeon and oncologist do not believe it is cancer, I am scheduled for follow up MRI on the 20th of December to see what further action, if any, needs to be taken,
I am urging everyone that I come into contact with to seek a second opinion from one of the leading cancer treatment centers if a local doctor diagnoses them as having cancer; especially pancreatic. I believe I read in Mayo literature that something like 80+ percent of patients who come to them for second opinion are found to have been misdiagnosed by their local doctor. After my surgery, I learned that there are several cancer clinics who have surgeons qualified to perform arterial resection with whipple surgery if needed. What upsets me most about my cancer other than the cancer itself is that the local oncologist admitted to me after my surgery that he was aware that there were surgeons in other states qualified to perform arterial resection surgery as part of the whipple surgery but neither he nor any of the other local doctors involved in my treatment told me about them. If I had not sought a second opinion on my own, I would not be typing this message today.

I am a 75 year old female. My cancer started in 1999 where I had my left kidney removed due to cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. I did quite well for several years, but in 2008 we found a tumor in the head of my pancreas. The kidney cancer had metastasized to the pancreas. I returned to Mayo Clinic and had a Whipple Surgery where they removed the head of the pancreas, my gall bladder, and the duodenum. in 2013 another tumor was found near where they had cut off the head of my pancreas. I returned to Mayo Clinic again and they cut off another inch of my pancreas to remove the tumor. In 2018 we found another tumor in the tail of my pancreas. We waited for a year to do anything as our last daughter was planning her wedding. When we learned about a treatment to kill the cancer we decided to go for it. In May of 2019 we again returned to Mayo Clinic and saw Dr Levy. He performed a Upper Endoscopic Ultrasound and saw that I actually had two tumors instead of one. He performed an Electrical Ablation to the first tumor. I returned in June and he treated the second tumor with an Electrical Ablation. I returned again in October and he treated the second tumor and felt like he had killed all the cancer. I returned in November to Mayo Clinic and they just looked around the pancreas to see if I looked clear of cancer. In August 2020 I had another CT scan and it showed that I have another tumor near the two that I had ablated in 2019. Has anyone had Kidney cancer in the pancreas and had a complete pancreatectomy? i am desperate to talk to someone that has had similar cancer that isn't pancreatic cancer. I am thinking about having a pancreatectomy but want to talk to someone who has experienced the same thing.