Pancreatic cancer, raising awareness.

[bloodywhitecat]

Some people might remember my post back in June when DP turned yellow and we battled to get him diagnosed at every turn, he was turned away from A&E and the GP surgery told him that sudden onset, painless jaundice was not worthy of an emergency appointment. After several more battles on 30th Sept DP was diagnosed with the most aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, he has had the Whipples procedure but sadly a secondary growth was discovered on his liver during the procedure. He needs chemo but he is still waiting.

In the meanwhile I am trying to raise awareness of PC, lots of GPs have very little experience of it and 50% of people with it die within 3 months of diagnosis. Pancreatic Cancer UK are running a campaign for quicker diagnosis and quicker treatment.

It is the No Time To Wait campaign and you can sign the petition here.

If you do nothing else, please make yourself familiar with the signs and symptoms of PC.

Signed, thanks for sharing. I lost an uncle to this some years ago and a friend in her 30s.

Thank you for posting this and raising awareness. My mum died of pancreatic cancer ten years ago only four weeks after diagnosis. I'm terrified every time I get a bit of indigestion.
I really hope your DH is one of the minority and his treatment buys him more time.

Signed.

My darling sister-in-law died from pancreatic cancer in September 2019, after a hellish 14 month rollercoaster of misdiagnosis and, in the end, no treatment at all apart from Creon tablets. She was unable to have the Whipple because the tumour was growing on her aorta. By the time the hospital had decided that it was pancreatic cancer it was even too late for her to have chemo in an effort to prolong her life.

Love and good wishes to you and DH, bloodywhitecat.

Very sorry to hear about your DH

I’ve signed. My poor Mum passed away from pancreatic cancer 12 years ago aged only 56. Watching the cancer take over truly made me realise what ‘quality of life’ meant because it took away all the things that Mum loved to do. Mum was diagnosed in the December and passed away the following September

Sending you love and strength

A very important thing to raise awareness for.

I had the Whipples in July 2017 aged 27 - stage 3 pancreatic cancer. I had chemo pre and post surgery. Disease free 4.5 years later - early diagnosis is absolutely key.

Sending love

I remember you original post and thought of it right away - I was hoping I was wrong.

I lost a much loved relative to it after he experienced the exact same - suddenly going yellow. It wasn’t taken especially seriously but it was at least investigated. Like most he died within a few months of diagnosis.

@Hodgehog

I remember you original post and thought of it right away - I was hoping I was wrong.

I lost a much loved relative to it after he experienced the exact same - suddenly going yellow. It wasn’t taken especially seriously but it was at least investigated. Like most he died within a few months of diagnosis.

Wow, the original post is almost 12 months old, he's still here, still fighting it and doing well. His is actually bile duct cancer which has an even worse survival rate but one year on he is still with me, working full time and we are now married. His prognosis was 6 months back in Dec 2020. We know the tumours are growing again and he is waiting on another scan and some more blood tests to decide on what to do next.

@Amybelle88

A very important thing to raise awareness for.

I had the Whipples in July 2017 aged 27 - stage 3 pancreatic cancer. I had chemo pre and post surgery. Disease free 4.5 years later - early diagnosis is absolutely key.

Sending love

Cancer free is amazing, long may it continue. The Whipple's is such a huge operation, I am so glad it was successful for you

I wish you as much time as possible.

It’s just so sad as there is often so little they can do for it. My relative decided against further treatment in the end - he may well not have survived the surgery as he’d been so unwell.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the few solid cancers where there hasn't been a significant increase in survival since the 70's.

Unfortunately its difficult to detect because unlike say breast cancer the lump is not able to be felt from the outside, and the symptoms can be so many other things-like gallstones etc.

But it does seem that research into pancreatic cancer is become more common. That can only be a good thing!

My GP died of pancreatic cancer
He was more than a GP, in his first few days as a newly qualified locum GP he saved my life when `I was 18.
25 years later he died within weeks of diagnosis.
I was gutted, it is a deadly and silent disease

My DH has cancer. Lets just say after an awful experience I no longer give to MacMillan! They need to be clearer to people about what they actually do (very little in my experience)

Signed. Bestie hah it. Has had full whipper. It spread to lungs but that too has been resolved, for now. Fingers crossed 🤞

Im reading this with interest and apologies for going slightly off topic but having recently dealt with Macmillan as others have mentioned it was absolutely awful and will never donate to them again. I thought our experience was unfortunate and rare but judging by the posts apparently it's not.
So sorry to everyone on the cancer journey at whatever stage you are at it's brutal xx

I wish you hope and luck.
My beloved Mother had this.
Your DH sounds amazing. The Whipple operation is a big one but it gives the best hope.

I've just lost my aunt to PC - they kept her in hospital attempting to diagnose here for ages (she was too ill for most of the more invasive procedures). They finally diagnosed her and within a week she'd died - she had no chance. I'll sign!

I'm really sorry to anyone who they've helped, but we found MacMillan to be pretty crap when DH had cancer too. One of their nurses talked to him when he was first diagnosed, said she'd be there for him and then went on holiday for two weeks (with no contact). Then he was transferred to a tertiary cancer hospital and exactly the same thing happened!

I've been very about those coffee mornings - which raise them loads - ever since.

Signed. Another one here who recalls your original thread - I was very pleased to see the new shoes thread recently! X

I know this is an old thread, but a worthy cause all the same. My dad died of cancer of the bile duct - it was 10 days from his first hospital admission until he died. I understand it's very rare. Some fairly unrelated tests were done a couple off months before. I'm still in shock about how fast he went downhill - he wasn't even diagnosed by the time he died, they were waiting for biopsy results and treating it as unknown primary. Bloodywhitecat I'm glad your DH is still with us and hope that his treatment goes well, whatever is decided.