Pancreatic Cancer

debbidoo said:

My sister
My sister is 78 and was diagnosed in April with pancreatic cancer. She had the whipple surgery May 1st and spent the next month in the hospital. Bottom line was that her stomach never "woke up" and they sent her home to die. They referred her to hospice and she and her husband decided to spend the rest of her life at home. She receives her sustenance by a liquid thru' a tube and pump into her small intestine and has a tube (drain) from her stomach attached to a bag. She is in her third month of this daily routine with no control of pain and continuous nausea. Hospice is ineffective, coming only three times a week. How can a surgeon destroy a person's insides and then say, "Sorry, didn't work. Go home and die now." And, not have any follow up because she is under the control of hospice.

Tim_PM said:

Attitudes
Jan,
I haven't had any side effects from the stent procedure, except that the yellow went away, and so did the itching. It took longer than I would have liked for the itching to get really trounced, but it was worth the wait. My appetite is fine, and I even went on a little eating binge when I was first diagnosed, since so much that I read said that PC patients tend to lose weight during Chemo. I put on about 12 pounds in short order. Then I found out that the quantity of Chemo they give you is predicated on your height and weight. I was already in trouble since I am about 6'6", and the 12 pounds just compounded the issue. This is really just joking around, since I probably can't tell the difference between what they would have given me if I hadn't gained the weight, and what they are giving me since my weight is up. On the serious side, your husband should try to eat something. His body needs resources to effectively battle this cancer. You might try ensure, though if he has to watch sugar, this drink has a fair amount of sugar, so be careful. Also, Ensure seems to be pretty pricey. I haven't found anyplace that sells it for less than a dollar a bottle. I will keep looking though.
Perhaps some of what I am about to say will help with you and your husband. I don't expect to beat this disease, it is just too unrealistic, especially at stage IV. But I wouldn't mind beating the statistics, and adding several months to my life expectancy. And if I succeed in doing that, I want those months to be as enjoyable as possible. I am into making memories for my wife and friends. Being irritable is counterproductive, though I understand why your husband might feel that way. He probably considers that he has just received a death sentence, and quite honestly, that is probably the case, especially if his cancer is inoperative. But the timing of that death is still uncertain, and the journey will be what you and he can make of it. I suspect that there will come a time when I will become introverted, trying to put my life and death into perspective, and I will pull away from loved ones somewhat. I have seen that in my parents, and father in law. Don't let that get you down, you are not at fault for anything, it just seems to be a part of the process of death. But I think your husband is letting down a little too early. Let him know how hard it is to be supportive when he is irritable and "narky". Best wishes, and many prayers for you and your husband. I need to rush off for Chemo right now. If you want to exchange comments in a less public arena, I would share my personal e-mail with you. Or there may be a less public way on this bulletin board, I haven't explored that possibility yet. Bye for now.

mstanner2 said:

Pancreatic Cancer
I totally agree with your opinion of hospice....My husband was diagnosed April 2009 and is 64 years young. He has always been healthy and very strong. We were given no hope, since his cancer had metastized to his lungs and liver (ever so slightly) However we do have good insurance so naturally we got all the Chemo and Drugs they could throw our way. Then after he was hospitilized for pneumonia...overmedicated....and I got angry with the onc. we asked for some home health assistance so he could come home and thats where we got thrown under the HOSPICE BUS....I had no idea they actually take over your insurance and you have to beg for treatment. I fired them immediately, put myself in charge of checking the medications for drug interactions...called the insurance company numerous times just for advice...Please do not think there is not a time for HOSPICE....however it seems to be just a polite way for the Medical Community to dismiss you. My husband was given 2 to 6 months to live. We are now in month 8...My husband is not giving up and I will be there for his fight. I don't think anyone should be given no hope and how dare a Doctor look you in the face and say sorry, He's done. We have had a second opinion and at least this oncologist gave us some hope.....my husband is almost back to his normal weight of 200lbs, and although he is weak sometimes...we still are on the chemo wagon and are willing to fight on....Thanks for your insight.

Daddyslittlegirl said:

Similar situation
Hi Karina,

My father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer two months ago. He was inoperable as the tumor was lodged between the pancrease, bile duct and liver and due to his age (86) the doctors said the whipple surgery would be too hard on him with more risks than a possible benefit. So he opted to go with chemo. He has finished his first round with Gemzar. He goes in once a week for three weeks and then rests the fourth week. I must say that he didnt have any side effects at all (just as the dr said). He did get EXTREMELY weak by the 3rd week but it's been two weeks now with no chemo and he is back to himself again. He just had his stent replaced from a temporary one to a permanent metal one and while the dr was in he did say the tumor had gone down in size.So after just one full round of Gemzar it did seem to help. As for the quality of life- the first weeks weren't bad. The last week was horrible! But after rest and plenty of good eating my dad is holding up fine.

Also-we did have a hard time with his appetite. There was a point where he just did not want to eat anything. I did some reasearch and found a prescription called Megace and asked dr to fill it. It's been a month since my dad's on it and he has GAINED 11 pounds! Not sure why the dr didn't tell us about it but I'm just thankful that I found it!

Best of luck and remember that ultimately it's not your responsibility to decide what your mom will do. It's her decision-but it is your responsibility to provide her with the right information so that she can make her decision based on the right facts. I had to accept this myself as I used to loose sleep over what my dad's choices were.