1. < Pancreatic Cancer

Sepsis occurrences following whipple

Posted by plum1 @plum1, Feb 27 10:53am

Since Whipple I’ve had three episodes of sepsis in 18 months. Been told it might be due to the surgery and removal of bile valves so back flow can occur. No remedy. (They checked other possible sources and removed my port). Anyone else experienced this or have any ideas?

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happyjack | @happyjack | Mar 8 9:40pm

I am a bit unclear about this as from what I have read is that symptoms can vary. I was having chills with a lot of pain for 4-6 hours followed by sweating buckets for 4-6 hours. With the pain reducing the last half of the sweating part. I am on pain meds and the pain was controlled other than when this happened every week or so. I did end up in the hospital with sepsis shock I think. My blood pressure was 70/40. CT scan showed my liver, spleen, and ascending large bowl were inflamed and said I had colitis. Blood cultures were positive for bacteria. Follow up CT scan did not show any evidence of cancer and just indicated normal healing of colitis. During this time my cancer CA19-9 markers went up to over 1300. And after the iv antibiotics the numbers are starting back down. I do have other indicators of cancer returning. I sleep a lot and even though I am able to eat my weight continues to drop. Liver numbers have been high with the most effected being my ALP topping out at 1800. This was at the same time as my colitis and looks to me like sepsis. Last blood test showed a reduction back to 1100. I will have another blood test soon to see if liver numbers and cancer marker numbers continue down. I still have my port in place. It was only used once but I see no reason to have another procedure to remove it. I was told by other health care workers they do not use the port as it can cause infection. Guess I could have had the port as a source for some infection. My Whipple was 7-12-24.

How does this compare to what you experienced? Best wishes to all dealing with cancer.

REPLY
1 reply
ben3 | @ben3 | Mar 9 2:58pm
In reply to @happyjack "I am a bit unclear about this as from what I have read is that symptoms..." + (show)
@happyjack

I am a bit unclear about this as from what I have read is that symptoms can vary. I was having chills with a lot of pain for 4-6 hours followed by sweating buckets for 4-6 hours. With the pain reducing the last half of the sweating part. I am on pain meds and the pain was controlled other than when this happened every week or so. I did end up in the hospital with sepsis shock I think. My blood pressure was 70/40. CT scan showed my liver, spleen, and ascending large bowl were inflamed and said I had colitis. Blood cultures were positive for bacteria. Follow up CT scan did not show any evidence of cancer and just indicated normal healing of colitis. During this time my cancer CA19-9 markers went up to over 1300. And after the iv antibiotics the numbers are starting back down. I do have other indicators of cancer returning. I sleep a lot and even though I am able to eat my weight continues to drop. Liver numbers have been high with the most effected being my ALP topping out at 1800. This was at the same time as my colitis and looks to me like sepsis. Last blood test showed a reduction back to 1100. I will have another blood test soon to see if liver numbers and cancer marker numbers continue down. I still have my port in place. It was only used once but I see no reason to have another procedure to remove it. I was told by other health care workers they do not use the port as it can cause infection. Guess I could have had the port as a source for some infection. My Whipple was 7-12-24.

How does this compare to what you experienced? Best wishes to all dealing with cancer.

Jump to this post

I had my whipple in April 2022. I had infections after my surgery as well. Had to stay in the hospital for also a month. They were fixed with antibiotics. No lingering issues with that.
I lost weight continuously 55lb until I started creon. I am now putting weight back on.
I did folfirinox and the cisplatin. Now on Lynparza. Feel good. Just some fatigue.

My original port can out after folfirinox but my cisplatin port is still in. We use it for dye for scans and blood draws.

Hope you can get you weight stabilized. Best to you.

REPLY
1 reply
happyjack | @happyjack | Mar 9 4:07pm
In reply to @ben3 "I had my whipple in April 2022. I had infections after my surgery as well. Had..." + (show)
@ben3

I had my whipple in April 2022. I had infections after my surgery as well. Had to stay in the hospital for also a month. They were fixed with antibiotics. No lingering issues with that.
I lost weight continuously 55lb until I started creon. I am now putting weight back on.
I did folfirinox and the cisplatin. Now on Lynparza. Feel good. Just some fatigue.

My original port can out after folfirinox but my cisplatin port is still in. We use it for dye for scans and blood draws.

Hope you can get you weight stabilized. Best to you.

Jump to this post

I have been on Creon for over a year. I was started on it as a treatment for steatorrhea before my tumor was found. I only had my port used once for Chemo as I had a bad reaction. I told other health care workers they could use the port if they wanted and was told they do not use them for blood draws or other things because there is a risk of infection. The port has been bothering me a bit so I guess it could have been infected and I have not had all infection cured. Maybe this round of meds will take care of that.

Glad you are doing well and I hope you keep doing so. Best wishes to everyone here.

REPLY
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Mar 9 9:24pm

@plum1, that sounds awful. Have they found the source of the recurring infection? Or has each occurrence been a new infection? Were you able to recognize the symptoms and seek medical attention quickly?

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