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[Guest guest]

Well hello everyone. My GI called yesterday and I did in fact have a panc

attack last week. Luckily I was able to catch it in the beginning and start

clear liquids. My doc called yesterday to tell me that my amylase and lipase

were high. I have an appt with him tomorrow but he has also scheduled an appt.

for me with a surgeon for consult of having the head of my panc removed. So I

am going to have my mom meet me at the doctors office so she will be my shoulder

to lean on if I get too emotional. I know what you are thinking....Why does a 37

y/o woman need her mommmy with her? I guess I am scared about the procedure.

Scared of something going wrong. Scared of dying. Scared, Scared, Scared. I want

to wait until June to have the surgery because my son will graduate from high

school at the end of May. People at work are saying your health comes first

and yes that is true but I don't want to be in the hospital and miss his

graduation. That is a BIG day for him. He is the only one graduating that has

a great job. As soon as he turns 18 he will get to start his new job in HVAC.

It is a 5year apprencticeship. They will pay for his college & give him a

vehicle and tools. He is so excited and I am so proud of him. During his

training he will be away for a while because the territory will be Northern

Indiana, most of Kentucky and Ohio. What more could a mother ask. Now if I can

just get my BOY CRAZY daughter to follow the same path as her brother.

Sincerly,

Patty Duley,

Office Coordinator

L. Doering, MD

Louisville Oncology

3991 Dutchmans Lane, Suite 405

Louisville, KY 40207

(502)899-3366 ext. 142

.jensen@...

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[Guest guest]

Hi Patty,

I don't think it is odd or abnormal to have your mommy with you

for this appointment. You are right, it could get overwhelming and

emotional. Having a second set of ears and a separate voice

can help get all the information you need squared away. Do not

be afraid to have a set of questions written down and maybe

even have your mom acts as a secretary to write down the

answers...so you can concentrate on asking the questions and

keeping your eyes focused on his face while he responds. I have

found that discerning a surgeons demeanor can be as

illuminating as the facts that he conveys.

And I also think that your wanting to put the surgery off until June

is not unreasonable either. Most surgeons will be up-front with

you about the pros and cons of delaying this. In addition, if you

opt to put it off, make sure the two of you set up a contingency

plan in case things deteriorate in the intervening months. Most

surgeries can be preformed on an urgent or emergency

basis....that is, just because you opt to schedule in June, doesn't

mean that you are held to that no matter what happens. If things

change for the worse, or you decide that the wait is intolerable,

you can go ahead and re-schedule it for earlier. Sometimes, all

you need is a day or two notice (depending on if you need time to

get certain medications out of your system, operating room

availability, etc). I know that there are certain blood tests and

pre-op exams that they prefer for you to schedule no more than a

month in advance....but check too to see if you can get some of

them done earlier than that, in case you need to have surgery

before June.

The opportunity that your son has seems heaven sent and I am

glad that he is enthused and looking forward to it. I can

understand that you want to make sure you are there for his

graduation and this is not an unusual request for a patient to

make. It happens all the time to hear things like after " my

daughter's wedding " or " my cruise " or " my project at work " . And if

there is no real harm in waiting, and if the patient is aware when

the signs and symptoms warrant no more putting off of the

surgery...then I think it is doable.

Of course, the other option, is to schedule the surgery in the next

couple of weeks, thus giving yourself maximum time to recover

before the ceremony..........You would have two months and if

there are no complications, you most likely will be back to

normal again in time. I guess that depends on what is more

psychologically comforting......If you need time to prepare yourself

mentally for the ordeal, or if you just want to get it done and over

with once you make up your mind to do it. I seem to be of the

latter type. I may hem and haw for months or even years over a

decision....but once I make it, I want to do it right then and there.

That is why my two emergency surgeries were actually easy

decisions to make, I had virtually minutes to decide...but figuring

out my next step in treating this CP, now that is basically one of

the hardest things for me to do!

Laurie

[Guest guest]

Patty, I'm glad you all have a plan in place now...and as for you

needing your mother? Mine has come over all the way from Australia

when I've asked her to because of the seriousness of all of it and

my surgeries, and also just because I haven't had anyone of my

husband's relatives who have been able to help me for more than a

few days around the house and care for so I could get my

strength back up..pretty sad when my mum lives 10's of thousands of

miles away, and they only live 80 miles away...

You lean on her shoulder, and take any help and comfort you can get

from whoever offers it. The wouldn't agree or offer it if they

didn't mean it.

And I can also understand you wanting to put it off until after your

son's graduation. I hope any attacks you have up to this time will

be mild and you can keep them under control yourself..

Take care,

Ward

[Guest guest]

Patty,

I am 37 also and I love my mommy too! In fact, last week I was in the

hospital. She couldn't come see me because she does not walk really well. She

has to

walk with a can and trying to get around at the hospital would be too much

for her. So she called me every 2 hours and when I left the hospital my husband

drove me to my mommy first! LOL! I climbed up in her lap on the chair and let

her hold me! I don't know what I would do without her!

Angie in SC

" The happiest of people don't necessarily have the

best of everything; they just make the best of everything that comes along

their way. "

[Guest guest]

Hi Patty,

You are right, things are not sounding too good for you right now.

Your doctor may suggest that you get the ball rolling even sooner

than the beginning of May. It is such a hard thing to decide....but

hopefull, your mom, your family, you and your doctor's can come

up with a plan that works the best. Hopefully your recovery will be

quick and easy, if you end up going in in May or sooner. Like your

co-workers said, you gotta take care of yourself. And if you miss

this graduation, just think of the one he will get when he

graduates from his college courses and the apprenticeship!

There are always ways to make a missed day into a special

occasion on later dates!

As far as me, I haven't had any pancreas surgeries...mine were

all confined to other abdominal organs (lost an ovary and

fallopian tube, a cyst on the other ovary, then abdominal

abscesses when they removed all my organs to wash off the

infection, then gallbladder surgery - it was the second surgery -

the washout - that gave me CP).So while I do not specific

experience with pancreas surgery, I do have it with abdominal

and I can tell you........it can be really, really hard to recover from.

The pelvic surgery wasn't too bad....but the infection was the

worse thing that I have ever dealt with and as far as I am

concerned, five years later, I am still recovering from it. So my

advice is that DO NOT under any circumstances rush back to

work or other heavy duty responsibilities if you can help it. It

really, really takes alot out of you, both mentally and physically. If

your surgeon says to stay relatively sedentary for 8 weeks, do

it...no lifting? then don't do it - not even the precious kitty (well,

maybe the precious kitty if he is not too much over 10lbs.....).

Seriously, you have to give yourself every chance to heal....to

avoid causing adhesions or hernias by not moving around to

vigourously, too soon, etc. I guess that is my best advice for now.

Laurie

PS - immediately after all of my surgeries, it was awful, Again,

the worst experiences I had in my life. If you want to know more I

can tell you but I just ran out of time today! My ride is here!