gail
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Gerry,
We were initially floored by the original, cancelled Whipple and what the future held, especially considering the spot found on Bill
Randi,
I hope your recovery has continued to go well. I didn’t see what you decided to do.
My husband is 8 days post Whipple surgery. He had 8 months of chemo prior to his Whipple (after the 1st attempt failed). He was in extraordinarily good health prior to his diagnosis, which everyone thinks contributed to him managing his treatment so well. His biggest side effedct was fatigue, but that really just translated into him going to bed at a decent hour. The Xeloda did a number on his hands and feet. But other than that, he exercised, traveled, skied, chopped wood (often on Fridays right after his treatment!) and shoveled snow.
His Onc is planning on 3 more months of chemo, possibly followed by radiation, once he gets the go-ahead from his surgeon. Personally, we were both happy the hear that that’s what he had in mind. We consider it insurance (though realize there are no guarantees).
I wish you well.
Gail
Hi Swissgirl,
You have every reason to be optimistic for your father’s outcome. My husband first tried to have the Whipple last June (’09) but the surgeon had found a spot on his liver (which he removed while looking around laparascopically). After 8 months on chemo (gemzar/xeloda), they were able to perform the surgery and all pathology results were negative! Lymph nodes, gall bladder, margins of the original tumor site. Even the tumor itself had no signs of live cancer cells.
The Whipple is a huge surgery, so just keep being there to help your father, physically, mentally and emotionally. I hope the best for both of you. Keep us posted.
Best,
GailHi Nancy,
I just recently “joined” and gather such stength from everyones input and from success stories like yours. I’m glad you jumped back on to update the group. My husband, Bill, is 63, but we have 9 year old twins. The thought of them losing their otherwise, over the top, healthy father while so young made it difficult for me to breath at times. The feeling of dread that engulfed me for the past 9 months has lifted since his apparently very successful surgery last week. I pray that like you, I’m on here a few years from now, still giving others hope with his success stories.
Thank you again for sharing.
Gail
Hi Margaret,
Yes, I do have to track the drainage. He’s going to keep his bile drain in until follow up chemo/radiation is done (hopefully by mid to late summer). But they took the bag off of that one; I just have to flush it 2x/day. They did send us home with a bile bag in case something happens. He’s got 2 active JP drains. One is pretty minimal, so I’m hoping they’ll take that off next week when we go back for follow up. No telling how long the last one will stay in. Whatever! Minor inconvenience that we’re happy to deal with:-).
Why was Tom’s in for so long? I don’t have any sense of what’s considered a “normal” response/recovery….maybe nothing?!?!?
Warming into the 40s today (woo hoo!), so we’re actually going to try and take a little walk outside to get Bill some fresh air. My parents are here helping out, so my mom is very happy to be cooking for him. We need to fatten him up!
My best to all,
Gail
Thank you, everyone. I got Bill home this afternoon. He’s very happy to be out of the hospital. He had enough of the smells, walking the hallways over and over, getting blood drawn at 3am, etc…When the surgeon (and team) came by this morning, he didn’t like the look of one area on Bill’s incision, so he had to reopen a small part of it and get it cleaned out. They were going to keep him another day because of it, but he talked the dr. out of it. I was already shown how to strip and empty his drains. Now I’ve learned how to pack a wound. A far stretch from my accounting background! But happy to help, of course. And so happy to have him back home.
I’ll keep checking in on everyone. Good night.
Gail
