My husband was diagnosed with a 4cm tumour in the tip of the pancreas mid June. It was found by accident while having a CT scan for something else. Luckily for him, he was booked in for distal pancreactomy on 11th of July which he had as planned. A week after his surgery it was found that they had damaged his small bowel, he literally had small bowel contents pouring from his surgical wound. He was rushed to further surgery to repair the small bowel and afterwards treated for sepsis. A week later we thought he was on the road to recovery and the same thing happened again this time he had a fistula from small bowel which was expelling the bowel contents outside, eventually they had to put a bag over the fistula for comfort. He hasn't eaten for 5+ weeks and is being fed by Tpn through a picc line.
They hoped the fistula would heal itself but it looks like he will need further surgery to repair it. He is so stressed as he should really be starting chemo soon but because of this injury it has to be put off till its repaired and he's strong enough. It so hard to stay positive under the circumstances, is this injury common? My husband says he just wants to be home and he wishes he never had surgery in the first place. I'm praying the next repair they do is the last repair, so that we can just move forward. He was told he's lucky it was found early but he worries the complications from the injury to his bowel changes everything.
Hi Snfmck
I’m Anne, one of the Community Champions here on the Online Community and, although I'm not a member of this group, I noticed that your post hadn't had any replies yet. Responding to you will 'bump' it back to the top of the discussion list again.
I don't know if this type of injury is common but it certainly sounds like you and your husband have been through a lot.
While you're waiting for replies, it would be great if you could put something about your husband's diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
