Corgigal

I am a 65 year old woman, diagnosed with distal bile duct cancer in Sept 2018.  I had a successful Whipple procedure at Stanford in Oct 2018, followed by 5 months of gem/xeloda chemo, and another month of radiation/xeloda.  I finished my treatment earlier today!!

I was fortunate to be diagnosed fairly early, as I recognized the skin itching  and pale stool symptoms and saw my primary doctor immediately, since my mother got cholangiocarcinoma at age 89.  I thought I was being overly dramatic to worry about such a rare disease striking me too, but am very glad I had my symptoms checked out right away.  My mom was unfortunately diagnosed much later in her process, and passed away very quickly after her diagnosis.

I’ve definitely had a few side effects from treatment– mostly a bit of nausea, hand/foot syndrome from the xeloda, and other skin issues.  Overall, everything has been very manageable, though not always fun.  I encourage anyone to consider treatment if it is possible, and to make sure you don’t ignore symptoms, but check things out.

Fingers crossed that my treatment took care of any lingering cells and that I’m back to normal.  I’m glad to have found this group to continue my education on this disease.

I’m happy to share my experiences if it is helpful.