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Pancreas Cancer Web

LA VERNA


In January 2001 my Dad called and was frantic. He thought my Mom, age 67, was having a heart attack. I was in the middle of trying bridesmaid dresses on with my two sisters and we rushed as fast as we could to the house. My Mom could barely breath and we rushed her to the ER. We should have called 911. We found out that day that she had blood clots in her lungs. Later I found out that this was probably the first sign of PC. My Mom was in the hospital for 7 days. They put a vena cava filter in her groin to prevent any further clots from traveling up her legs and into her lungs. She had CT scans done but they never looked low enough to see the pancreas. She went home and was on oxygen for 6 months. Around October she started complaining about abdominal pain. She had backaches. We thought she needed a new mattrass and exercise. We thought the filter was giving her problems. She had a CT scan done of her lower pelvis and everything looked good. They never looked high enough to see the pancreas. The pain kept getting worse. The day before Thanksgiving the pain was so bad. I took her to the ER and they said she was constipated, gave her an enema and sent her home. The day after Thanksgiving the pain was unbearable so back to the ER. This time a CT scan was done and a mass was found on the pancreas, liver, and lungs. My world as I knew it crashed. That was on a Friday. By Monday at noon we had got into see an ongologist. They scheduled a biopsy. We had that done on a Thursday and the next Monday we heard the worst news. We got another opinion. Same news. We wanted to do everything. Mom started Gemzar and died less then 5 months later. I also had a great aunt die of PC. I hope they find a cure soon.

Posted 05/05/2003 01:24 pm by Karen
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