Im so very ANGRY and in shock.

My mum had pancreatic cancer diagnosed last January, she had a whipple operation straight away. She was then the told that they took as much as they needed to, but as cancer cells were found in 9 of the 18 lymph nodes they would gave her chemotherapy to hopefully mop up any last cancer cells that were there. That finished at the end of October. In January this year she had a scan and was told that everything was ok apart from her scan was a bit fatty but that is no problem, that can happen with chemotherapy.

She had another scan a month ago, now found out the results. She has secondary liver cancer, which is stage 4. Cant be cured.

Gutted, devasted, and angry. I dont understand. Loads of questions going round my head anyway, please help with a few.

Is fatty liver usual with chemo, has it happened to anyone else on here?

Why was it not checked on more often, especially when it is likely that cancer would come back there?

Is that how quick and aggressive cancer can be?

Any comments appceciated

 

Dear Debbie

so sorry to hear about your mother

My husband had advanced localised pancreatic cancer and survived 27months.

At one scan after about 21months he was told he had a fatty liver probably due to the chemotherapy - he had had 13 cycles by then and also radiotherapy.

He went on to have spread to liver and the effects of that.

Sounds like they need ways to distinguish fatty liver from cancerous lesions - or is it really the  case that in both our situations the spread to liver developed after the scan?

unfortunately yes pancreatic cancer is that aggressive - it is so often throughout the system before it is diagnosed and so spreads so quickly

It can't be checked too often due to the risks from the radiation of the CT scan and the treatments would be the same anyway.

Do they check your mother's CA 19-9? That is one way to check between scans if levels of CA19-9 respond to tumour growth and treatment. Some people don't produce CA19-9 so it can't be used in everyone.

However they seem to say for post-operative patients that they will wait until symptoms appear rather than checking in other ways. I think that is partly pessimism that they think that other treatments won't work but I feel that the earlier they catch the cancer the better as it will give treatments a chance to work

best wishes Sue

Debbie I am so sorry about your news; my dad received very similar news on Wednesday (he had his whipple last July and they advised the chemo was just belt and braces to zap any rogue cells). Now we are being told it has spread to the liver! Like you I am angry, bitter, heartbroken for my dad and every morning I wake up, pause for a second and then am hit by a juggernaut in the centre of my chest. As a family we are prone to pounce on any nugget of good news/hope but I am steeling myself for the worst. It is amazing that they can reattach limbs, create new life in a test tube and restore sight but cannot find a cure for cancer. My thoughts are with you and your family Muppetx