Pancreatic cancer

Former Member
Former Member
  • 1 reply
  • 43 subscribers
  • 449 views

Hi, I’ve recently just finished chemotherapy after having had a Whipple’s procedure in August last year, and have an appointment with my U.K. oncologist on the 11th May. I had completed 17 of 18 planned infusions of gemcitabine (plus capecitabine for some of those cycles, long since stopped), but was informed that my blood platelets were too low to proceed with the final drip. I had a CT scan done on the weekend of the 11th April after collapsing and having been admitted to hospital. My oncologist was later surprised by the timing of that scan, and I strongly suspect that it might be used in lieu of a standard final CT scan following completion of treatment. There was a previous scare after a different CT scan done halfway through my treatment (on the 17th January) suggested that the cancer had spread to my liver, during which time I was led to believe that I only had months left to live, but this was, thankfully, shown to have been a false alarm during a subsequent MRI scan (the most interesting three weeks of my life!). I have not been informed about what happens next. Could anyone tell me what sort of treatment (if any) I can be anticipating from now on? Many thanks.

  • Hello Paddy

    Welcome to the Online Community. I’m Debbie, one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists. I am very sorry to hear that you had pancreatic cancer. I see that you have joined the pancreatic cancer forum and hope that you find it supportive. I also hope that you have recovered well from the Whipple’s operation and the chemotherapy.

    It is good to read that the MRI showed that the cancer hadn’t spread to the liver and it must have been an anxious time while you were waiting to have the MRI and for the results. I can understand your wish to know about what might happen now. As we are not directly involved in your care, unfortunately we can’t say whether you will need more treatment. Your treatment team will be able to discuss that with you. If your doctors don’t think that you need more treatment at the moment, they will monitor you regularly for some time. You will have regular appointments, blood tests, and possibly scans. This is called follow up.

    Even though you needed to miss the last chemotherapy, the treatment is likely to have worked as well as if you had the full course. I can imagine that it must feel like a long time to wait for your appointment on the 11th May so you could contact your consultant’s secretary and say that you have some questions. Then the secretary can get a member of the treatment team to call you. That might be a doctor or a clinical nurse specialist. If you have a number for a clinical nurse specialist at the hospital you can contact them directly.

    I hope that this is helpful but please feel welcome to contact us again if there is anything else that we can help with.

    With best wishes

    Debbie C – Macmillan

    Cancer information nurse specialist

    You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or email us. 

    Ref/AM