Anybody know anybody that has beaten pancreatic cancer?

My mom was diagnosed several weeks ago and had surgery 2 weeks ago to have the tumor removed. The Dr. feels they caught it early and it was in the tail of the pancreas instead of the body which was positive, but the typical pancreatic cancer patient generally doesn't live longer than a couple of years.

Only 5% live 5 years after being diagnosed.

My mom is in great health otherwise and we are hopeful that she will be one of the ones that can live a long life after being diagnosed.

i'm sorry jm

I can't offer anything but prayers.

There was a guy I worked with who beat it about 15 years ago. He just recently passed away but he lived ~70 years.

t&p buddy

sucketh


sorry man


hope she beats the odds

I'm so sorry to hear this.

My grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in july of 1997. They gave him 6 weeks, and he passed away just days before Christmas. IIRC, they caught it late though.

I'll spare you the details for now, but if you end up wanting to know more about it, let me know.

Your family will definitely be in my thoughts though.

sorry to hear this.

I'm so sorry to hear of your mom's diagnosis. I know from personal experience how terrifying that is.

About this time last year, my best friend of 20+ years was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She (like your mother) was otherwise in very good health. I of course went nuts looking up all the info and stats about it that I could find, which was more than just a little bit discouraging. Fortunately, in my best friend's case, it was caught early, and the procedure to remove the tumor was successful. She lost about 70% of her pancreas (mostly the tail), and her spleen. But the Dr. was confident that he got it all out. The surgery was terribly invasive (as I'm sure you know), but as my friend was healthy, she recovered very well and very quickly. It's been a year now, and she's gone in for screenings every 90 days (which the Dr. has said she should continue to do for 5 years), and is still cancer-free. The only noticeable side-effect is that she lost a lot of strength in her abs from the surgery - and it appears that she'll never entirely regain it, but that's a small price to pay.

It's great that your mom's was caught early. I know the statistics can be overwhelming, but try to stay positive. If you have any questions, or just need some one to talk to, feel free to PM or something. I remember all too well how scary that situation was.

Agoodlittleag, that sounds almost exactly like my mom's case. They also removed her spleen.

It did seem pretty grave after reading the statistics on the internet, but she has recovered very well. She is completely functional again and eating well finally. She lost about 30 pounds prior to surgery because of the pain and she was not overweight. She really needs to put on about 20 or more pounds.

It sounds like her Oncologist has the same plan - they are going to do a 6 week cycle of chemo and then do anotehr CT scan to see if has come back at all and then continue to monitor it.

dp...20 mins apart

[This message has been edited by Mr. DNC (edited 1/31/2008 2:09p).]

I have a friend who's dad was diagnosed and they gave him almost no chance of survival. They don't know why, but the cancer all of the sudden went into remission and he is still alive.

Best of luck to you and your family.

Sorry. But luckily, they found it early. I think that is very reassuring.

When my friend was going through it, everyone kept telling me, "don't look at statistics and info on the internet!" I of course didn't listen, because that's how I deal with things - by doing research and gathering "facts". But really, that's the best advice I can give you. After all, 95% of people with pancreatic cancer aren't really your concern - your concern is your mother, and her case is unique. Listen to her doctor - he won't lie to you. The best reassurance I got was when I made my best friend's surgical oncologist look me in the eye and tell me what her prognosis was. After I started ignoring all the other "information" that was out there and just focusing on her, not only did I have a lot more peace, but so did she.

I'll say a prayer for you and your mom. God bless!

Thanks....that's exactly what her doctor told us as well. He is one of the top Surgeons in the country and knows what he is doing, so that's really comforting.

prayers for your mom jm.

Nothing but thoughts and prayers for your mom....just stay positive and have faith in god.

jm: I will say a prayer for your Mom, your family and you.

Our thoughts are with you and your family.

sorry to hear it jmtamu

you and your mom are in my prayers

thoughts and prayers to you and your family

I will pray for you and your mom and your whole family.

My uncle died from that at Christmas 2 years ago. Horrible disease.
If her personality changes, remember its not you its the cancer taking over. It can/will get rough.

Sorry, jmtamu.

jmtamu... will pray for her and the family for continued good health. If you don't mind me asking, how did it come about as to how they found it?

I'm sorry to hear about that.
My grandmother had it. She didn't survive it unfortunately. For some reason, she didn't take any of the pain meds they gave her during all of her treatments. She said she didn't want to get addicted. I always thought that was either really brave or really crazy. I'm still not sure.

Be strong for her. She will need all of the strength you've got, and then some. I pray that she beats the hell outta the cancer. I've been through this with my mother, and she is doing well now. It was not pancreatic cancer, however.

Thoughts and prayers from this corner of the web....

Prayers for you mother and family. My step-father passed away just about 3 years ago due to pan can.

quote:

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If you don't mind me asking, how did it come about as to how they found it?

---

She was having tremendous pain over the course of 2 months to the point that she couldn't eat and lost about 30 pounds she really didn't need to lose because of it. She had numerous tests run including a colonoscopy and GI tests. Finally, they focused on her pancreas due to the high counts in her blood tests.

The CT scan confirmed that she had a tumor on the tail of her pancreas.

T&P

Sorry to hear, jmtamu. Thoughts and prayers for you, your mom and your family.