Maria Menounos has a story to tell...
Pancreatic Cancer Survivors are definitely Miracles!
Showing posts with label whipple surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whipple surgery. Show all posts
Sunday, May 28, 2023
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Living Proof!
I love the giving spirit of so many of our Cancer Warriors. After going through the most horrendous of journeys, they are quick to share encouragement and hope with their fellow sojourners.
Billea is one of our favorites. She shares her story on our Whipple Testimonials with humor and honesty and a big dose of that Fighting Spirit!
"Every once in a while I check in on the pancreatic whipple world. I do this just to sort of check in and see what's up. I don't do this often, because usually I just get freaked out more than it does any real good.
When I first started this journey, I couldn't read enough about it. But there weren't many (hardly any) positive stories. Mostly gloomy doomy. The kind that scare the crap out of you more than anything. So that's why I'm writing my story. I want there to be at least one more story that has some good news for all of you out there that are either getting ready to have a whipple or still very early into healing from one.
For me this all started with a kidney stone. At the time I thought it was really bad, but with hindsight now love that kidney stone more than just about anything. From that we found out my liver was enlarged, and from that I found out that I had a neuroendocrine tumor at the head of my pancreas. I was beyond lucky. Finding mine by total accident.
I am a 41-year old mother of five. Two of my own, three I am lucky enough to call mine after I re-married, and Nana to six. I worked full time and considered myself pretty healthy. And now I'm being told I have cancer. It's a lot to take in in a short amount of time.
I had my whipple surgery on December 1st, 2015 at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. I spent three days in the ICU, and then five days in a regular room. When I first woke up from surgery, I had a tube coming out of my nose, two coming out of my right side, and a catheter. Not exactly comfortable to say the least. But I had great nurses and a team of doctors that took really good care of me. After they took the tube out of my nose, I started throwing up, so we had to put it back in for a little longer.
Of course, they want you up and moving and you have all this crap attached to you so it takes forever just to get out into the hall. But it did get better. And I started losing all of the attachments one at a time. I didn't have any complications. No infections or blood transfusions.
I did find out after the surgery that it had spread to two lymph nodes. This was a blow, because we were really hopeful that we got it all with the surgery. So I was told that I would be doing chemo.
I lost my mother earlier in the year to cancer. I had seen first hand the struggles she went through with chemo and radiation. I was really upset at first, but then I just remembered how brave my mom was. So I pulled myself up by my boot straps and decided okay, if this is what I've got to do, then by gosh, let's do it. By my last night, my arms were pretty shot from the potassium in the IV's. But other than that, I was doing really good.
Once I got home, I did drop some weight, but got it back pretty quick. Then, on December 23rd (just in time for Christmas) I had a check-up with my surgeon. Found out that I wasn't going to have to do chemo. I was off work for three months. And by the end of it, I was ready to go back. To get back to normal.
And so, here I am almost five months out from my surgery. About 95% back to normal. A few changes, but under the circumstances, they are tiny. No more alcohol of any kind...ever. But, hey, that I can do. A little more gas than before. Some really nice new scars for my brag book. The other 5%?? Well, I don't think you can ever be 100% normal after something like this.
I have to get checked every six months. I know that there is a chance it will come back. I know that I may have to do chemo in the future. Life is a little bit more uncertain for us, but if I were honest it never really was before anyway. Even if we like to think it is.
My hope is that whoever reads this, whether it's for yourself or someone you love going through it, please stay positive and don't give up. There can be a happy ending.
I am living proof of it."
Yes, Billea, you are honest-to-goodness living proof of the power of staying positive and never giving up! You are our Happy Ending for today!
Sharing your Story of Love puts a smile on our face every time!
Love and Prayer and Blessings in Abundance,
In Grace, Always,
Jane
Billea is one of our favorites. She shares her story on our Whipple Testimonials with humor and honesty and a big dose of that Fighting Spirit!
"Every once in a while I check in on the pancreatic whipple world. I do this just to sort of check in and see what's up. I don't do this often, because usually I just get freaked out more than it does any real good.
When I first started this journey, I couldn't read enough about it. But there weren't many (hardly any) positive stories. Mostly gloomy doomy. The kind that scare the crap out of you more than anything. So that's why I'm writing my story. I want there to be at least one more story that has some good news for all of you out there that are either getting ready to have a whipple or still very early into healing from one.
For me this all started with a kidney stone. At the time I thought it was really bad, but with hindsight now love that kidney stone more than just about anything. From that we found out my liver was enlarged, and from that I found out that I had a neuroendocrine tumor at the head of my pancreas. I was beyond lucky. Finding mine by total accident.
I am a 41-year old mother of five. Two of my own, three I am lucky enough to call mine after I re-married, and Nana to six. I worked full time and considered myself pretty healthy. And now I'm being told I have cancer. It's a lot to take in in a short amount of time.
I had my whipple surgery on December 1st, 2015 at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. I spent three days in the ICU, and then five days in a regular room. When I first woke up from surgery, I had a tube coming out of my nose, two coming out of my right side, and a catheter. Not exactly comfortable to say the least. But I had great nurses and a team of doctors that took really good care of me. After they took the tube out of my nose, I started throwing up, so we had to put it back in for a little longer.
Of course, they want you up and moving and you have all this crap attached to you so it takes forever just to get out into the hall. But it did get better. And I started losing all of the attachments one at a time. I didn't have any complications. No infections or blood transfusions.
I did find out after the surgery that it had spread to two lymph nodes. This was a blow, because we were really hopeful that we got it all with the surgery. So I was told that I would be doing chemo.
I lost my mother earlier in the year to cancer. I had seen first hand the struggles she went through with chemo and radiation. I was really upset at first, but then I just remembered how brave my mom was. So I pulled myself up by my boot straps and decided okay, if this is what I've got to do, then by gosh, let's do it. By my last night, my arms were pretty shot from the potassium in the IV's. But other than that, I was doing really good.
Once I got home, I did drop some weight, but got it back pretty quick. Then, on December 23rd (just in time for Christmas) I had a check-up with my surgeon. Found out that I wasn't going to have to do chemo. I was off work for three months. And by the end of it, I was ready to go back. To get back to normal.
And so, here I am almost five months out from my surgery. About 95% back to normal. A few changes, but under the circumstances, they are tiny. No more alcohol of any kind...ever. But, hey, that I can do. A little more gas than before. Some really nice new scars for my brag book. The other 5%?? Well, I don't think you can ever be 100% normal after something like this.
I have to get checked every six months. I know that there is a chance it will come back. I know that I may have to do chemo in the future. Life is a little bit more uncertain for us, but if I were honest it never really was before anyway. Even if we like to think it is.
My hope is that whoever reads this, whether it's for yourself or someone you love going through it, please stay positive and don't give up. There can be a happy ending.
I am living proof of it."
Yes, Billea, you are honest-to-goodness living proof of the power of staying positive and never giving up! You are our Happy Ending for today!
Sharing your Story of Love puts a smile on our face every time!
Love and Prayer and Blessings in Abundance,
In Grace, Always,
Jane
Friday, October 17, 2014
Fainting Students, Bellowing Bulls and the Whipple...
For years I worked with a rural veterinarian. Loved. It.
Well, actually the poop I could do without... but everything else was my kind of job. The kind where you get paid to do something you love...
We were a country animal clinic, serving a grand variety of patients from tiny kittens to bellowing bulls. You never knew what a day might bring... but you could always count on something exciting. Like the day a box of feral cats got loose in the lobby. Or the time we had to remove a metal T-post from the chest of an over-zealous colt.
And of course you could always count on surgery. Might be a run of the mill neuter or spay surgery on said feral cats (we did catch them, finally, have the scars to prove it!) or pinning the broken leg of the poor cattle dog that ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time...
We participated in the career program at the local high school and each semester the doctors would interview and select several students to interim with us...shadowing the techs, learning from the drs., deciding if the vet profession was the right one for them.
Great Program. We enjoyed the students immensely, especially the ones who willingly cleaned the poop without nagging! And every semester we waited to see who would be the first to faint during surgery...
It got to be almost a tradition. Watching surgery is not for the squeamish. As a matter of fact, the doctors seemed to relish making these surgeries more yucky and bloody than required just for the effect... and the effect was usually pretty dramatic.
Poor kids... can't imagine why anyone would put up with such "abuse"... except, of course, they were young and invincible, they made us smile...
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, surgery... as in pancreatic cancer surgery.
It's called the Whipple surgery. Actually it's a pancreatoduodenectomy. But it was nicknamed the Whipple, after the doctor who first described it, and that's so much easier to say...
As I mentioned before, watching surgery is not for the squeamish. Well, having the surgery is no picnic either. The Whipple is one of the most demanding of surgeries. It is also one of the only traditional pancreatic cancer treatments that can offer a real chance at a "cure."
If the cancer is caught early enough to perform surgery, then statistics show survival rates of 20-40% at the 5 year mark. Much better than the 5% survival for traditional chemotherapy alone...
But better than statistics are the real life testimonies of pancreatic cancer patients who have had the Whipple Procedure. Mom's pancreatic cancer was considered inoperable because the tumor had wrapped around her portal vein, making it impossible to remove safely...so surgery was not in the cards, but we've heard from a handful of pancreatic cancer survivors that have shared their experience with the Whipple surgery. Perhaps their stories will provide an insight into this most difficult of surgeries...
It's been 1 year since my whipple surgery was performed at Hackensack University Medical Center in NJ by an amazing surgeon, Dr. Marson Davidson. I was in surgery for 12 straight hours and was kept unconscience for 1 full day after surgery. After successful removal of the tumor and a 10 day hospital stay I was released and sent home to continue the recovery process. After 1 year the only problems I seem to have is I am not breaking down fatty foods properly and have multiple foul smelling bowel movements almost everyday. Imodium helps with this problem. Doc says I should take pancreatic enzymes to solve that issue. The only other issue is fatique and the stomach area is still tender to the touch. Other than those things my surgeon says I am recovering great. He pushed me to 6 month visits now. So far so good. Good luck to all and God Bless.
~ Rich
My father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in late 2004 when he had his gall bladder was removed. His cancer was resectable and the surgery was scheduled after he has sufficiently recovered from the gall bladder procedure. He was 74 and had been in excellent health. He did not smoke or drink.
The procedure took quite a long time to complete (I believe almost 8 hours). I believe it required removing part of his pancreas (head), stomach, bile duct, small intestine and stomach. He spent a couple of days in ICU after the surgery and was moved into a normal hospital room to recover more. Immediately after the surgery he was doing quite well. However, things changed.
About two weeks after the procedure he became very weak and nauseated. He had a very difficult time keeping anything down. He seemed to spend almost all of his time in the bathroom. He had to be hospitalized because he developed a fever and they had to try to get some nutrition into him via IV. He went from around 160 pounds to 105 during his recovery. After a week or so he was sent home. He had to start to eat around 7 very small meals a day and that helped. He really was not put on any meds and started to get better.
However, the process of going back to the hospital occurred roughly every 6 to 8 weeks for the first year. However he slowly regained his strength and his hospital stays after fever were getting shorter and after about 14 months he had recovered about as much as he was going to recover.
Yet, the best part of this was my father then survived until 2010. He lived right at 6 years after diagnosis and Whipple procedure. The quality of his life was very good until the very end and then things went down very quickly.
Unfortunately in the last 6 weeks my (now 82 year old) mother has been diagnosed with non-resectable pancreatic cancer. Her cancer has invaded the portal vein and has spread into the lymph nodes and she will not undergo the Whipple. We have started chemo. It is interesting to note my father never underwent chemo. ~ Mark
And then there are two blog/websites that share in much more detail the experience of their Whipple Surgery and subsequent recoveries:
My Whipple Experience
and
Pancreatic Cancer and the Whipple Procedure
Both sites are full of actual, personal information about the Whipple and are paying forward the gift of gaining their lives back.
It is what we all pray for on this Journey. Wherever we are, may we see the treasure in each sunrise, knowing it is another day to live life well.
All's Grace Today, Jane
Well, actually the poop I could do without... but everything else was my kind of job. The kind where you get paid to do something you love...
We were a country animal clinic, serving a grand variety of patients from tiny kittens to bellowing bulls. You never knew what a day might bring... but you could always count on something exciting. Like the day a box of feral cats got loose in the lobby. Or the time we had to remove a metal T-post from the chest of an over-zealous colt.
And of course you could always count on surgery. Might be a run of the mill neuter or spay surgery on said feral cats (we did catch them, finally, have the scars to prove it!) or pinning the broken leg of the poor cattle dog that ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time...
We participated in the career program at the local high school and each semester the doctors would interview and select several students to interim with us...shadowing the techs, learning from the drs., deciding if the vet profession was the right one for them.
Great Program. We enjoyed the students immensely, especially the ones who willingly cleaned the poop without nagging! And every semester we waited to see who would be the first to faint during surgery...
It got to be almost a tradition. Watching surgery is not for the squeamish. As a matter of fact, the doctors seemed to relish making these surgeries more yucky and bloody than required just for the effect... and the effect was usually pretty dramatic.
Poor kids... can't imagine why anyone would put up with such "abuse"... except, of course, they were young and invincible, they made us smile...
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, surgery... as in pancreatic cancer surgery.
It's called the Whipple surgery. Actually it's a pancreatoduodenectomy. But it was nicknamed the Whipple, after the doctor who first described it, and that's so much easier to say...
As I mentioned before, watching surgery is not for the squeamish. Well, having the surgery is no picnic either. The Whipple is one of the most demanding of surgeries. It is also one of the only traditional pancreatic cancer treatments that can offer a real chance at a "cure."
If the cancer is caught early enough to perform surgery, then statistics show survival rates of 20-40% at the 5 year mark. Much better than the 5% survival for traditional chemotherapy alone...
But better than statistics are the real life testimonies of pancreatic cancer patients who have had the Whipple Procedure. Mom's pancreatic cancer was considered inoperable because the tumor had wrapped around her portal vein, making it impossible to remove safely...so surgery was not in the cards, but we've heard from a handful of pancreatic cancer survivors that have shared their experience with the Whipple surgery. Perhaps their stories will provide an insight into this most difficult of surgeries...
It's been 1 year since my whipple surgery was performed at Hackensack University Medical Center in NJ by an amazing surgeon, Dr. Marson Davidson. I was in surgery for 12 straight hours and was kept unconscience for 1 full day after surgery. After successful removal of the tumor and a 10 day hospital stay I was released and sent home to continue the recovery process. After 1 year the only problems I seem to have is I am not breaking down fatty foods properly and have multiple foul smelling bowel movements almost everyday. Imodium helps with this problem. Doc says I should take pancreatic enzymes to solve that issue. The only other issue is fatique and the stomach area is still tender to the touch. Other than those things my surgeon says I am recovering great. He pushed me to 6 month visits now. So far so good. Good luck to all and God Bless.
~ Rich
My father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in late 2004 when he had his gall bladder was removed. His cancer was resectable and the surgery was scheduled after he has sufficiently recovered from the gall bladder procedure. He was 74 and had been in excellent health. He did not smoke or drink.
The procedure took quite a long time to complete (I believe almost 8 hours). I believe it required removing part of his pancreas (head), stomach, bile duct, small intestine and stomach. He spent a couple of days in ICU after the surgery and was moved into a normal hospital room to recover more. Immediately after the surgery he was doing quite well. However, things changed.
About two weeks after the procedure he became very weak and nauseated. He had a very difficult time keeping anything down. He seemed to spend almost all of his time in the bathroom. He had to be hospitalized because he developed a fever and they had to try to get some nutrition into him via IV. He went from around 160 pounds to 105 during his recovery. After a week or so he was sent home. He had to start to eat around 7 very small meals a day and that helped. He really was not put on any meds and started to get better.
However, the process of going back to the hospital occurred roughly every 6 to 8 weeks for the first year. However he slowly regained his strength and his hospital stays after fever were getting shorter and after about 14 months he had recovered about as much as he was going to recover.
Yet, the best part of this was my father then survived until 2010. He lived right at 6 years after diagnosis and Whipple procedure. The quality of his life was very good until the very end and then things went down very quickly.
Unfortunately in the last 6 weeks my (now 82 year old) mother has been diagnosed with non-resectable pancreatic cancer. Her cancer has invaded the portal vein and has spread into the lymph nodes and she will not undergo the Whipple. We have started chemo. It is interesting to note my father never underwent chemo. ~ Mark
And then there are two blog/websites that share in much more detail the experience of their Whipple Surgery and subsequent recoveries:
My Whipple Experience
and
Pancreatic Cancer and the Whipple Procedure
Both sites are full of actual, personal information about the Whipple and are paying forward the gift of gaining their lives back.
It is what we all pray for on this Journey. Wherever we are, may we see the treasure in each sunrise, knowing it is another day to live life well.
All's Grace Today, Jane
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Meeting our Goliath
He was a young boy really... just a lad.
His older brothers were off to war. He was stuck behind tending the sheep. And the women-folk. And his aging father. He tried to see the importance in his job, but longed for nothing more than to join his soldier brothers, to feel the heat of battle, to fight for his beliefs.
As the conflict raged on a distant battlefield, those at home began to hear the disheartening reports of trouble on the front lines, whispers of dismaying defeats, and even rumors of retreat.
The father could stand it no longer and sent his young son to carry supplies to his older brothers and bring back word from the front.
With eagerness the lad agreed and flew across the fields arriving only to find the rumors were all true. The enemy army had his countrymen cowering in fear.
The leader of this enemy band taunted them cruel... shredding their beliefs for all to hear, sparring jagged words of insult and abuse until their confidence and faith was shattered.
As this evil giant of a man grew brave with bullying power, he issued a challenge to all in the land.
The young boy watched with distress as the mighty army of his ancestors began to back down in defeat. Not even one man stood up...
With a righteous indignation he rose to the challenge and offered himself.
His brothers pulled him back in angry frustration, "What do you think you're doing?" they hissed.
While other soldiers leaned in and dangled sweet promises of riches and bounty should he dare beat the monster in this life-or-death duel.
The boy shrugged off the besetting hands and stood only taller, "Let no man's heart fall because of this giant," his voice compelled the crowd, "Let me go out and fight for our cause."
When the King heard, he had the young lad brought before him. Seeing his youth and inexperience, the King tried to discourage him from such sure folly, but the lad was insistent and with a heavy heart the King had his armor brought to the boy to wear for what little protection it might offer.
The armor was bronzed metal, helmet and shield with belted sword...a soldier's heavy load, awkward and weighty for this tender shepherd boy. He was not used to the encumbrance and quickly set it aside, choosing instead his trusty sling and 5 smooth stones...
With the arm of conviction, and a passionate faith in Jehovah God, he lands the stone in the middle of Goliath's forehead.
In that moment, our young herder of sheep became the Slayer of Giants.
Stepping into the pancreatic cancer treatment arena can feel much like confronting our very own Goliath. A monster. A bully. A cruel giant who dares "Pick your best fighter and pit him against me."
Do we listen to the "brothers" hiss...What are you doing?
Or to the "soldiers" promise... a rich, healthy bounty, dare to dream?...
Perhaps it will be the advice of the "King"... heavy armor to shield you, will the weight hinder or help?
In the arena of Pancreatic Cancer treatments there is a dizzying array of choices:
His older brothers were off to war. He was stuck behind tending the sheep. And the women-folk. And his aging father. He tried to see the importance in his job, but longed for nothing more than to join his soldier brothers, to feel the heat of battle, to fight for his beliefs.
As the conflict raged on a distant battlefield, those at home began to hear the disheartening reports of trouble on the front lines, whispers of dismaying defeats, and even rumors of retreat.
The father could stand it no longer and sent his young son to carry supplies to his older brothers and bring back word from the front.
With eagerness the lad agreed and flew across the fields arriving only to find the rumors were all true. The enemy army had his countrymen cowering in fear.
The leader of this enemy band taunted them cruel... shredding their beliefs for all to hear, sparring jagged words of insult and abuse until their confidence and faith was shattered.
As this evil giant of a man grew brave with bullying power, he issued a challenge to all in the land.
“Why bother using your whole army?
Pick your best fighter and pit him against me.
If he gets the upper hand and kills me, we will all become your slaves.
But if I get the upper hand and kill him,
you’ll all become our slaves and serve us.
you’ll all become our slaves and serve us.
I challenge you this day.
Give me a man. Let us fight it out together!”
The young boy watched with distress as the mighty army of his ancestors began to back down in defeat. Not even one man stood up...
With a righteous indignation he rose to the challenge and offered himself.
His brothers pulled him back in angry frustration, "What do you think you're doing?" they hissed.
While other soldiers leaned in and dangled sweet promises of riches and bounty should he dare beat the monster in this life-or-death duel.
The boy shrugged off the besetting hands and stood only taller, "Let no man's heart fall because of this giant," his voice compelled the crowd, "Let me go out and fight for our cause."
When the King heard, he had the young lad brought before him. Seeing his youth and inexperience, the King tried to discourage him from such sure folly, but the lad was insistent and with a heavy heart the King had his armor brought to the boy to wear for what little protection it might offer.
The armor was bronzed metal, helmet and shield with belted sword...a soldier's heavy load, awkward and weighty for this tender shepherd boy. He was not used to the encumbrance and quickly set it aside, choosing instead his trusty sling and 5 smooth stones...
With the arm of conviction, and a passionate faith in Jehovah God, he lands the stone in the middle of Goliath's forehead.
In that moment, our young herder of sheep became the Slayer of Giants.
* * * * *
Stepping into the pancreatic cancer treatment arena can feel much like confronting our very own Goliath. A monster. A bully. A cruel giant who dares "Pick your best fighter and pit him against me."
Do we listen to the "brothers" hiss...What are you doing?
Or to the "soldiers" promise... a rich, healthy bounty, dare to dream?...
Perhaps it will be the advice of the "King"... heavy armor to shield you, will the weight hinder or help?
In the arena of Pancreatic Cancer treatments there is a dizzying array of choices:
Traditional * Holistic * Chemotherapy * Alternative
Radiation * Immunotherapy * Clinical Trials * Surgery
There is a right choice (or two) for you. And learning as much as you can about your options will give you the power and assurance to make your choice with confidence. Having a medical oncology team that guides you through these options is so vitally important. Please know that nothing on this blog replaces the advice of your healthcare team...nothing! We are sharing the things we have learned along the way on our journey...your journey is unique to you and the tests, treatments and advice should be tailored for your case alone.
In the coming weeks, please join me as we explore the pancreatic cancer treatment options that are currently available, even some that are just now in clinical trials (but oh, so promising!). We'll talk about what they are, their pros and cons and whenever possible hear from pancreatic cancer patients who have tried them.
Together we can learn to navigate this pancreatic cancer journey and face our very own Goliaths, with Grace, with Hope, with Confidence. For as David sang out to his Goliath so long ago...
You are challenging me with sword and spear,
But I come to you in the name of ADONAI-Tzva'ot,
the God of the armies of Isra'el.
Today ADONAI will hand you over to me,
For the Battle is the Lord's!
~I Samuel 17:45-47
It only takes one stone, thrown with conviction, to slay the Giant...
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