Pancreatic Cancer Group: Introduce yourself and connect with others

@donomary My wife has PDAC and had 11 treatments of folfirinox last year. She advises not to cut all your hair off to start as she didn't start shedding until she was two thirds of the way through. And, even then, she didn't lose it all and I thought it was hardly noticeable. Of course, everyone is different but just wanted to share her experience. Good luck with treatment! And sorry for your diagnosis. Folfirinox, by the way, shrunk her tumor in half. She is, after more than a year, still Stage III.

My name is Glenn and I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last month. There is a growth approximately 2 cm where the pancreas meets the bile duct.

Would this be early pancreatic cancer?
Would I need to surgically remove the pancreas?
How long before I would be getting surgery?

Many thanks!

Hello All,
After having a CT scan in December 2025, the radiologist found a tumor on my pancreas. Two endoscopies and one MRI later I was told on 3/26/2026 that I have Stage 2 PC. I will begin 8 rounds of chemotherapy starting 4/13/2026 then Resective surgery followed by more chemo. I remain prayerful about my situation and know that its one step at a time. I’m not a Mayo patient, but look forward to reading your comments and sharing with this community.

Hello from Chula Vista, California,

I was diagnosed with PDAC 3 weeks ago (3/6/26) during a hospital stay. They haven't staged it, but as far as treatment goes, my 3cm undifferentiated malignancy is "borderline resectable." Plan is to do 6-8 rounds of mFOLFIRINOX, then try to resect, then more chemo. All new to me, and I'm trying to keep my head above water. I recently moved from Maryland to SoCal after a fall Semester at Sea, turned 67 on December 30th, retired January 1st, started Medicare on Feb 1st, and started having GI symptoms on Feb 10th. My chest port will go in this Friday, April 3rd, and I've asked my brother to pre-emptively shave my head this weekend. A new voyage underway, for sure.

Grateful for this community as I get started with both treatment and retirement. Thanks for taking me in when I'm not a Mayo patient, but need community. I'll be reading all your questions and comments!
Warm regards,
Mary D

@beckykuh

I’ve been on Creon for ten years. After my whipple I was prescribed to take three capsules of 24,000 lipase units per meal (doctor basing this on my weight). Most of the time I took only one capsule per meal and I was generally OK.

Now I take more creon and I also take psyllium. This works for me.

For me I could barely eat anything right after the surgery. But I started eating small amounts of anything that appealed to me. Over time this expanded. For me, high fat items were problematic. But this still leaves a lot of choices.

Time is a great healer. Your situation will improve.

A tip from a professor— take Creon with the second bite, not the first.

@castell What does the creon do to help with not able to eat much. I am concerned with not getting enough nutrition when it is so hard to eat.

@icelander19
I had Whipple almost ten years ago. Surgical pathology report showed two positive lymph nodes, one at the hepatic artery (usually a bad indicator).

No complications. No recurrence. Six months of chemo after Whipple. Use Creon with every meal. Everything worked out surprisingly well, despite a grim outlook at times.

Best of luck -- we all need it.

CG

Hello from Chula Vista, California,

I was diagnosed with PDAC 3 weeks ago (3/6/26) during a hospital stay. They haven't staged it, but as far as treatment goes, my 3cm undifferentiated malignancy is "borderline resectable." Plan is to do 6-8 rounds of mFOLFIRINOX, then try to resect, then more chemo. All new to me, and I'm trying to keep my head above water. I recently moved from Maryland to SoCal after a fall Semester at Sea, turned 67 on December 30th, retired January 1st, started Medicare on Feb 1st, and started having GI symptoms on Feb 10th. My chest port will go in this Friday, April 3rd, and I've asked my brother to pre-emptively shave my head this weekend. A new voyage underway, for sure.

Grateful for this community as I get started with both treatment and retirement. Thanks for taking me in when I'm not a Mayo patient, but need community. I'll be reading all your questions and comments!
Warm regards,
Mary D