Pancreatic Cancer...advice?

sds1
sds1 Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Rare and Other Cancers #1
I am 20 years old and my mother may have pancreatic cancer. Her skin turned very yellow, and we didn't think anything of it as she was not in pain, but after a test the doctors found a mass on her pancreas and it is pushing against the liver which is why she is jaundice. We will not know for a day or two if it is cancer, but the doctors did not seem to have much of good news for the situation. Has anyone gone through this or known someone who has, and what are the chances of this not spreading once appearing out of the blue? Also, if someone/anyone has the cancer, and it is successfully taken out with surgery, is there still a limited life-span since it was there to begin with? Or can they possibly go on to living a full life? Please help me, I am just losing it.

Sophia

Comments

  • kezza
    kezza Member Posts: 4
    #2
    some advice
    I will answer some of your questions assuming your mum has cancer because if she has not her treatment will be different.My pancreatic cancer was found last july after i went yellow for a similar reason as your mum.I had further test that showed it was cancer.I then had chemo and radiation treatment which did shrink my tumour and it was decided that an operation to remove it would be performed.The operation is long and major surgery,I was on the table for 13 hours, the surgeon rang my wife half way thru the op and told her they had got it all out.My surgeon has told me I will see all my children married which gives me great hope for a long life because my youngest is only 3. Of course information you get from google wil have you dead and buried within a year 3 at the most. Statistics for this cancer are based on all the cases over the years and in my opinion are perverted be the generally late finding and high staging of the cancers found. My cancer was staged by the labs as a 1 no other involvment anywhere which keeps my hopes even higher,for long life.I certainly hope your mum does not have pc because it is life altering,surgery is abiggy then after surgery more chemo, food intake changes,enzymes are needed by most to help digestion of foods some foods will go straight thru you, diabetes could become part of your life,it hasnt in mine yet,been told depends on how much of your pancrease they have to take.This has been my experince others i am sure will have their lot to say but we are all different,treatment for each person is different.If you want to ask me other questions Im on here every day and in the chat room days using the same name.Dont know where you are but Iam in australia so i am generally on your morning time.Anyway good luck to youand yours.
  • sds1
    sds1 Member Posts: 2
    #3
    kezza said:

    some advice
    I will answer some of your questions assuming your mum has cancer because if she has not her treatment will be different.My pancreatic cancer was found last july after i went yellow for a similar reason as your mum.I had further test that showed it was cancer.I then had chemo and radiation treatment which did shrink my tumour and it was decided that an operation to remove it would be performed.The operation is long and major surgery,I was on the table for 13 hours, the surgeon rang my wife half way thru the op and told her they had got it all out.My surgeon has told me I will see all my children married which gives me great hope for a long life because my youngest is only 3. Of course information you get from google wil have you dead and buried within a year 3 at the most. Statistics for this cancer are based on all the cases over the years and in my opinion are perverted be the generally late finding and high staging of the cancers found. My cancer was staged by the labs as a 1 no other involvment anywhere which keeps my hopes even higher,for long life.I certainly hope your mum does not have pc because it is life altering,surgery is abiggy then after surgery more chemo, food intake changes,enzymes are needed by most to help digestion of foods some foods will go straight thru you, diabetes could become part of your life,it hasnt in mine yet,been told depends on how much of your pancrease they have to take.This has been my experince others i am sure will have their lot to say but we are all different,treatment for each person is different.If you want to ask me other questions Im on here every day and in the chat room days using the same name.Dont know where you are but Iam in australia so i am generally on your morning time.Anyway good luck to youand yours.

    Thank you for sharing that
    Thank you for sharing that with me. You're definitely right about the internet....so is true that if it is taken out through surgery you can have longer than 1 year, or 5 years to live? Those were the two numbers I repeatedly found. I can't live without my mom, I do not know what I would do. I need her here, and I'm very scared. I don't know how to handle these things. I'm very happy you have been so fortunate, and I hope my mom is the same. We are still hoping the mass is just a cyst or benign but...apparently, benigns aren't that common. We're not giving up however. BUT, she does NOT have stomach pain. Is this a good sign? The dr pushes on her stomach and she feels no pain. I know most people's answers would be to ask the dr, but i'm not always there to talk to the dr. Kezza, I am in the U.S., and I will try to find you in the chat sometime, hopefully. Thank you for your help so far.
  • kezza
    kezza Member Posts: 4
    #4
    sds1 said:

    Thank you for sharing that
    Thank you for sharing that with me. You're definitely right about the internet....so is true that if it is taken out through surgery you can have longer than 1 year, or 5 years to live? Those were the two numbers I repeatedly found. I can't live without my mom, I do not know what I would do. I need her here, and I'm very scared. I don't know how to handle these things. I'm very happy you have been so fortunate, and I hope my mom is the same. We are still hoping the mass is just a cyst or benign but...apparently, benigns aren't that common. We're not giving up however. BUT, she does NOT have stomach pain. Is this a good sign? The dr pushes on her stomach and she feels no pain. I know most people's answers would be to ask the dr, but i'm not always there to talk to the dr. Kezza, I am in the U.S., and I will try to find you in the chat sometime, hopefully. Thank you for your help so far.

    advice
    I was given the same hope about possible benign tumours but the reality is Pancreatic cancers are usually malignant.I had no stomach pain at all did not even know I was sick I was on a diet at the time so weight loss was normal if you know what i mean.
    Only reason I found out was because I was at the doctors for my little girl and she saw I was juandice and that got the ball rolling.The statistics point to only 5 people out of 100 hundred with pc being able to have surgery, mainly because of vein or artery involvment, and this is a major worry but there are doctors out there who will still perform the op even with involvment.So depending on involvment it may not be the end of what is considered our major hope for suvival.Again i say i am here to answer questions you may have but these are my experiences others will be different good luck again to you and your mum.

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