Surgery not successful
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Hi Pam,
Just wanted to send you my welcome to this group too. You have found a marvelous source of information. Please keep coming back and keeping us informed about your Dad, and I hope that you find a wealth of knowledge that can help you in many ways. None of us know how long this cancer gives us, but we can only educate ourselves and hope to hit it with all we have.
Hope for the best and all my best wishes to you and your family.
Linda Z.
Hi Pam,
Welcome to the site although I am sorry that you had to find ua all. And I am sorry to hear about your dads surgery not going as planned. I do know what you are all going through with being in shock. I was with the same with my dad when we were told of his CC and it being inoperable from diagnosis.
As to your point about how long your dad has left, I agree with what Lainy and Rick have said in that no one can say for certain. I do hope that you will keep coming back here as you will get a ton of support and help from us all.
My best wishes to you and your dad,
Gavin
Hi Pam,
Don’t have much more to add to what Lainy and Rick have already told you, but want to welcome you to our “family” and hope to hear more on how Dad is doing. Thinking of you & your family and hoping for the best.
Darla
Thank you for your quick replies. We are at Ochsners in New Orleans. My sisters and I have been on this site since early May when it was suspected that our dad may have this disease. We have written every helpful piece of information down.
My dads surgery was terminated due to the surgeon finding the cancer had spread to the pancreas. It was explained to us that a whipple and all other surgery was not possible. The surgeon would not be able to get clear margins and my dads age and health is against him.
We will see an oncologist when we return to Ocean Springs Mississippi. I will keep everyone posted on the general discussion board. Thanks, We are hopeful he has many more years. We do suspect he has had this for two years. Many questions add up now.Pam,
Welcome to this group – sorry you have to be hear. Your Dad’s story is not uncommon because this cancer is often difficult to see on imaging tests. The same thing happened to me, in a way. I was doing the Mayo protocol for a liver transplant to treat the cancer, but at a staging surgery it was found to have spread.
As for the question of how much time is left – that is one that is just so variable by the experiences of so many on this website. Some are doing quite well and going on several years while others seem to pass quickly after diagnosis. I wish there was a chart that we could be input a couple pieces of information and output a survival time – but there is not. The ones that seem to do the best and have a suprising fight in them seem to be the ones that try chemo and change drugs every time they become ineffective as shown by cancer growth. I am now moving onto my 3rd chemo regiment and hope that it gives me more success than the last. I’ve had CCA for at least 11 months now, but I’m certain I’ve had it much, much longer than that.
I wish your Dad and your family the very best of luck. This is a tough boat to be in, but somehow we all manage. You will be in my prayers.
Rick
Pam, Welcome to our fabulous Family and sorry you had to join. Did your father have a Whipple? The biggest experts cannot say how much time anyone has. Some are told months and have survived years. Some had surgery some have not. You would do best to read past posts and become in the know which will lead to good questions to ask the doctor and to help you understand this Cancer as well. To have chemo or not is a personal decision and can be made after talking about it with the doctor. Different kinds of chemo work differently on everyone. About the only thing we know for sure about CC is that we know not much. This Board is invaluable for support, knowledge and to just find friends. Have you sought a 2nd opinion? Where is your location? Yes, it is a huge shock but once a game plan is in place you will all feel better as you will have a goal for your dad. Write down questions you want to ask the Oncologist and think about that second opinion. Please keep us posted.
My dad had surgery for bile duct cancer. CT scans were promising that it was resectable. The surgery was not completed because it was found that the cancer has spread to the head of the pancreas. The surgeon said he would not be able to get any clear margins. He also believes it originated in the gallbladder. His liver is not cancerous but the artery and vein going to liver appear to have cancer. We understand this cancer is rare and appears glandular and that is why the extent of it didn’t show on scans. My family is in shock and my dad now has to recover from a major surgery. He wants to know how time he has left and will consider chemo if it doesn’t make him too sick.
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