How positive is this news?

piper · New User Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

My stepmother was diagnosed with suspected pancreatic cancer in Nov.2006, and had a whipple procedure in Dec. They found pancreatic cancer that had spread to her stomache and lymph nodes. She recovered from the whipple very well and just completed her first round of chemo and radiation. She just got the results of her cat scan back which say that no cancer was found. What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that they found no tumors or could it be possible that she is cancer free? I have had little hope in my research of this tragic disease.

freeio · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:43 am Post subject: Welcome

Unfortunately, there is really no good way to gauge the success of a pancreatic cancer case from a distance. In my case, my Whipple was successful, and the combined radiation and chemo treatments with Xeloda, and then more rounds of Xeloda all by itself seemed to make the cancer go away. Nearly a year after the last treatment, I developed new, related tumors, which they have been fighting with chemo ever since then. So they thought they had cut it all out, and they thought that the radiation and chemo had taken care of anything they had missed, but there was at least one cancer cell left running around which apparently caused the three known new forms of cancer I am now facing.

My point is that you will not know if they got it all. There is no way to tell. If, five years from now, there is no recurrence, then she is probably free of this cancer, but until that much time has passed, it is hard to say much definitively.

If you are interested in how my cancer has gone, you may link to my cancer blog listed below. It is unedited, and was written at the time each event happened, so all of the ups and downs, and all of the emotions that go with those, and there.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Marty
_________________
-------------------------------------------------
whipple procedure, Oct. 21, 2004
28 days of radiation
56 days of Chemo using Xeloda
diagnosed as progressive recurrent pancreatic adenocarcinoma (Stage IV) Jun. 20, 2006
was treated with gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, and tarceva, which all failed.
Cancer blog: http://diehlmartin.com/cancer.html

piper · New User Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

Freeio,

Thankyou very much for your response. Your story is an inspiration. Smile

I am going to forward this thread to my dad and his wife.

Thank you again,

Piper

piper · New User Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

I'm just posting an update.

My stepmother is having hospice care for her.

I have to tell you all, that she WORKED at her job until 2 weeks ago!! She is so brave! Her cancer had really started to take over and my dad had to carry her from the car to her desk, but she LOVED going to her job. I am amazed by her strength!

I also want to say, which I am sure many of you already know, it seems the Whipple procedure is a marvolous thing. My stepmother had it done at University hospital in Cincinnati, she had a quick recovery, and for 11 months was able to live a very full life with little pain.
Her cancer had already spread to her stomache and lymph nodes and was found in her lungs by the time the procedure was done. I just wanted you all to know that had the cancer been caught a little earlier, I believe the whipple would have given her a lot more time.

She seems to be at peace with what is happening, for this I am grateful.

brainman · Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:52 pm Post subject: Re: How positive is this news?

Piper, your stepmother sounds like a fighter. It takes a fighter to live with Pancreatic Cancer. I hope she finds the strength to live much longer. I am glad that hospice is there to help her.

It also takes a special person to care for someone with cancer and you sound like just such a person. How is your own support system? We hope we can help, but we cannot replace personal, real people.

God be with you and your stepmother.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

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