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Pancreas Cancer Web

IRENE


I was diagnosed with PC 1-7-96 at the age of 41. I had my gallbladder out in April of 96 and had no symptoms until Nov, 96. I had abdominal and lower back pain everytime I ate. The same symptoms when I had a gallbladder problem I also had severe itching. This started around Thanksgiving. I made it through Christmas and thendecided I needed to have some lab work done. I thought that maybe I was having an allergic reaction to something. I am a medical technologist and at thetime I worked in a lab. I had my blood drawn and my pancreatic enzymes were extremely high indicating pancreatitis. I was at my dr's office within the hour and he sceduled me for an ercp and a cat scan. I had a tumor in the head of the pancreas which had invaded the bile duct thus causing back up of toxins anf therefore the pain and the itching. I was surprised that I was not jaundiced.My dr's were frantic and looked back at my scan from the gall bladder surgery but there was nothing there to indicate that I had this disease. Ten days later I had a complete whipple which lasted 8 hours. I was in the hospital for ten days. I went from 165 lbs to 118 lbs. It was not a pretty site. 6 weeks after surgery I had chemo,5FU, and radiation. At the time that was abiut all that was offered. It was very difficult but I had great positive attitude and a lot of people praying for me. Eventually I was able to eat again without being sick and gained back most of my weight. I now have scans every 6 months and bloodwork. My PC did not spread beyond the pancreas. i was diagnosed at stage 1. I was given 6 months at the most. That made me fight because I was not readdy to leave this world. I am very thankful and truly believe that God gave me a miracle and the strength to get through this dreaded disease. I had a great team of Dr's and Oncologist who did not wait but dove right in to get me well. My oldest son graduated from college this past Dec. my husband graduates in May and my youngest next year. I take one day at a time and am so thankful to be here for my families great achievments! It has been 4 years and I don't stress about it as much anymore. I just keep it at the back of my mind. It reminds me how prescious life is and how fragile. I look forward to being a grandma and to retirement with the most wonderful husband in the world! Great positive attitude and unfailing belief in God keep me going.

Posted 04/01/2000 10:23 pm by Irene
E-mail Address: sunpoppy@bizland.com

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