Dad's Diagnosis

Hey everyone, 

This is my first time posting to this forum, though I have been using MacMillian nurses throughout my dad's journey. I wanted to share experiences with the wider community and those who've been affected by pancreatic cancer.

Dad was diagnosed with diabetes many years ago, but was certainly fit enough to do a marathon. He always had a little yellow in his eyes, which I naively put down to previous history of smoking which he had given up, though more lately he was noticeably jaundice as well as losing weight. He started to be very sick so went to A&E, who put him through various test (end of April).

They found a tumour in his pancreas, at this stage we didn't know if benign or otherwise but he was a candidate for Whipple. Hence, he chose to go through with this to give him the best chance of a cure.

The surgery was successful, and surgeons could see no signs of spread, this gave us great hope (end of May). I was very grateful he was even offered this surgery as know it is not always a possibility. His recovery from surgery so far has had it's ups and downs but overall he is already looking great. Walking more, putting weight on - I'm so proud! He looked quite frail at first, but now he is looking better each day and sounding better too.

Up until this point, we didn't know much about diagnosis. He's just had his pathology results back and they managed to remove the bulk of the tumour, though found 4/16 cancerous cells removed as part of biopsy, as it wasn't completely contained within the pancreas. It does sounds as though these nodes were near the primary site of the tumour though, which is at least something to remain hopeful of. So, unfortunately as it has spread, chemotherapy is the next step for my dad (though this was expected as was advised as adjuvant treatment to mop up regardless). This is scheduled to start in a few weeks time if he is strong enough to withstand.

I remain hopeful that he can be cured, and his own positive energy & determination inspire me greatly. Though am realistic that this is an aggressive cancer, with various complications that arise and there is also the threat of COVID to worry about these days too. 

Nevertheless, each journey is unique and statistics are just numbers, I will continue to remain positive and encourage my dad during these difficult times that he faces, every single step of the way. There is still much hope in his story, we just have to take it day-by-day for now and be ever so grateful for the fact he has had the surgery and for the potential his future may hold.

Fingers crossed :). Nice to meet you all, and I hope that by sharing each others stories we can help each other.