katja
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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.
KateJim,
Your story is so poignant and eloquent. My mum said to me recently that she and my dad have already had 35 happy years, which she wouldn’t swap for anything. I will show her your story and hope they can make the next times the happiest, as my dad comes to terms with his disease.Cindy, you should be so so proud of your dad – when my dad was in the hospital it brought tears to my eyes as he thanked everyone who came in the room, would ask the nurses about their families, and would wait hours sometimes in pain or uncomfortable, if he thought the nurses were too busy.
These are the people the nurses do the job for, and I’m sure your dad’s carers will have a fondness for him that makes them do a better job. Please start to demand some answers – doesn’t come naturally I bet you’re a lot like your dad! I had to write all my questions on a piece of paper and then take notes as they answered them, even asking the nurses to call the surgeon back if I didn’t understand it (sometimes they’d roll their eyes but believe me it’s better than spending another sleepless night wondering what they meant by ‘probably’ or ‘could be’…)
My thoughts are with you
KateNancy
What a great story, so so pleased for you all! Just goes to show you shouldn’t always listen to the numbers and the naysayers.Gerry
I hope that your experience post-Whipple will be something like my dad’s. He had a Whipple Jan 13th and spent 12 days in hospital. His first few days were really hard as his epidural wasn’t working and he had a reaction to the morphine, but after that his recovery has so far been really speedy. He was able to eat after around a week and has been eating most things since then, with no ill effects, and not always taking the creon (enzymes). I believe leakages are a fairly common and worrying complication, although they usually clear up, but my dad had no problems like this.
He is 6 weeks out of surgery and asking about when he can get back to swimming, walking at least a mile or two every day.Being in the UK we seem to have a different procedure for chemo, in that usually none is given if the ‘curative’ resection is deemed to be successful. My dad has been recruited onto a trial (BILCAP) which is testing chemo with Xeloda (Capecitabine) against simple observation to see if chemo makes a difference to recurrence. Personally I would prefer him to be offered chemo, which seems to happen in the states? Anyway we will find out soon which part of the trial he is on.
I hope your surgery is successful and you are soon back to ‘near normal’ if that’s possible.
Kate
