Hi, I’m new here, my mum has recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which has spread to her liver and small intestine. She has been hospitalised in Lanzarote where she lives with my dad, I am currently waiting for my passport to be able to go out to her. Because she is in a hospital so far away it is hard to get information on exactly what is going on. My dad is dealing with everything with the doctors there, he does not speak Spanish and although some of the doctors there have very good English, I think things are still getting a little lost in translation. We haven’t been told anything about what stage mum is at, and that’s what’s worrying me the most right now, as everything I can find on the internet seems to suggest that if the cancer has spread from the pancreas to the liver and beyond then it is in the final stage and life expectancy is 3-5 months, if anyone can help me with a general idea of whether this is right or not I would be very grateful as I spend the whole time worrying. Mum is not currently able to eat or drink and has been on a drip mostly since she was admitted about 17 days ago. She had a small intestine bypass operation 6 days ago, but they have not tried to take her off I.v fluids yet as she still is not well enough as she keeps being sick, yesterday she was bringing up dark blood when she was sick, they have inserted a nose line again yesterday to help prevent her being sick, not sure what that is either. Sorry if I’ve typed to much for a first post, I just don’t know what to do, up until 8 weeks ago my mum was fine, and then my dad got a stomach virus, and my mum thought she was sick with the same virus, just different symptoms, cos my dad had an upset stomach but mum just felt constantly bloated and had no appetite, and would be sick after attempting to eat anything. Dad got better after about 10 days, but mums went on and it wasn’t til my dad said he’d take her to the ER if she didn’t see a doctor, that she made an appt. They did blood tests on the Wednesday and when she went in to follow up on the Friday they said she had to be admitted straight into hospital.
Hi Zanoni1972
So very sorry to hear of your mums situation. I am not qualified to comment on yours but can I advise you to contact Pancreatic Cancer UK who have specilst nurses/doctors you can speak to online or in person and also speak to your GP they may be able to advise. Hope everything is ok with her, stay positive I know its difficult.
Love and hugs XXX
Thank you so much for the info, will have a look now xx
Hello Zanoni
I am sorry to hear what is happening to your Mum. First of all, don't spend too much time on the internet. Dr Google isn't too helpful some of the time!
However, this is the general situation with pancreatic cancer. If the cancer has not spread and veins and arteries are not too close to the site of the cancer then a surgery called the Whipple can be performed. This involves taking away quite a bit of the pancreas as well as parts of the stomach and other organs. It's a long surgery with quite a long recovery. Sadly, even though surgery is successful then the cancer often comes back.
Where the cancer has spread or is in a difficult situation then surgery is not possible. Chemotherapy and sometimes radiotherapy is offered to try to reduce the tumour. On occasions, where the tumour is in a difficult location the tumour might be reduced to have surgery.
Where the tumour has spread then life is limited but I would ignore timelines given. Everyone is different so life may be longer than three to five months.
I hope you get your passport soon and can travel to see your mother.
Squeaky
Thank you for the information, they are not offering surgery, but have mentioned chemo/radio therapy, but can’t proceed with either option until mum is well enough to handle side effects. One of the tumours on her small intestine is sitting behind her pancreas and creating pressure there and blocking normal flow, hence the bypass. But due to the continued sickness they are taking her into theatre again today to see if there is anyway to improve things further.
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