Whipples and CC
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Well, if it is up to all of us, it will be!
My hope is that with people like all of us here and others joining in we truely can make a difference.It might help to have a CC brochure on hand for those, in the medical community, who are unfamiliar with this disease. One day though, Cholangiocarcinoma will be a household name. At least that is what I want to believe.
Best,
MarionJim & I had those experiences too, until we learned the ropes and who to talk to and what to say to get taken care of more quickly. No one understands!!!!!!!
Kate, I know what you mean! We were flying home from Milwaukee where Teddy had his double Whipple and on the plane about 40 minutes from Phoenix both drain tubes he had in blew out! What a mess. Took him right to the hospital and they kept him sitting up in the waiting room for 3 hours!!! I called the surgeon in Milwaukee and he said just take him home and “slap” a new bag on him. So, we did. Everything was fine. People just don’t know. I should have stripped him (he was only wearing an airplane blanket) and made them look at him.
It’s been frustrating having surgery with a name, which is so rare. When my dad had to go back to hospital with an infection a week after his whipples they had him waiting (so patiently) for four hours in a hard chair, since no one understood when he said ‘I had a whipples last week’. One doctor even had the cheek to say to him ‘There are poorly people here, that man had his appendix out’.
My brother said he wondered if they thought my dad was hallucinating about ice cream!
You are so right, Kate. It is the largest surgery to the human body, not life threatening but huge surgery. Even today, 4 years later, when Teddy meets a new doctor socially or professionally, the doc is totally amazed. Its like you become this awesome, miracle! Kind of like a medical celebrity. We worked a convention here in Phoenix 2 years ago with Marion and there were over 2,000 doctors from all over the world (surgical oncs) and when they would meet Teddy, they would stop and chat with him and ask him questions. I asked him if he was going to give out autographs……
Jeff
My dad had whipples for CC in January. They say it’s the biggest operation that can be done to the human body. My dad had a relatively uncomplicated time (aside from the first three days) and is now doing amazingly well, eating as normal and walking lots.His tumour was 2cm in the distal bile duct, near the ampulla of vater. They got all the tumour although it had spread to some lymph nodes nearby.
KateJeff,
Here’s the short version….*grin*
A pancreaticoduodenectomy, pancreatoduodenectomy[1], Whipple procedure, or Kausch-Whipple procedure, is a major surgical operation involving the pancreas, duodenum, and other organs. This operation is performed to treat cancerous tumours on the head of the pancreas, malignant tumors involving common bile duct or duodenum near the pancreas.
We have several people here who have had this very major surgery. I’m sure they’ll chime in soon!
Hugs,
Pam
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