Re: surgery options

[Guest guest]

Hello all-

I saw the surgeon yesterday at the IU Med Ctr. He spent 1 1/2 hours talking to

me and my husband. I was so impressed.

He explained both surgeries - Puestow and Whipple, and said he would recommend

the Whipple after looking at my scans from two previous stent/ERCP procedures.

The head of the pancreas is diseased, and said he would prefer to get it out. I

have a small section of the defective duct (I have pancreas divisum) that has

stenosis that just will not open very much with stenting.

He said I am a very good candidate for the surgery. I had two questions that I

wanted answered and he answered them both.

1. Is my pancreas still being damaged even when I am not in pain or having any

other symptoms. The answer to that questions is " YES " , as verified by the

previous scans. My disease is degenerative.

2. When is the best time for the surgery? (as I read that many panc patients

say that their docs advise waiting until the are " worse. " ) The answer is " only

I can decide, but in his opinion, the reason the surgeries are not very

successful, is that the patients are already in such a bad state - i.e.

dependant upon narcotics (constant pain), the panc has quit functioning,

diabetes is pending or has occurred. Because I have NO symptoms when I am not

having an attack, and I am very active, relatively young (fifty in 8 days!), I

would have a good chance of total recovery - at least 85-90% sucess rate. Long

term, who knows, but if they cut out the part that is causing the attacks and

diseased areas, I might be able to have longevity without panc problems.

I am seriously considering having the either the Whipple or the Puestow surgery

in the spring.

I also asked him about the ICT/TP surgery. I am not there yet, but if I were,

he would recommend the U of Cinn. He also said that by the time I get to that

stage, very likely the IU Med Ctr will be doing the TP/ICT. Just info for those

of you thinking about this surgery.....

Thanks, Andre and W. for your input.

Cecilia

Mesa, AZ

[Guest guest]

Well, I had both, both performed by B of MUSC. In Jan.

5th 2002 I had the Whipple procedure and after a nightmare of

infections and a short coma I have to say it gave me better relief

than the Puestow that was done in Jan. of this year.

My pancreas is in real bad shape and originally had a small tumor or

cyst on the head pressing on the main duct. I had a lot of

complications with the Whipple and ended up with sepsis. They

finally sent me home February 22 after another surgery to repair

some other damage, I was down to 135#'s from 192. I had a central

feed line and was on tpn for two months or so. They finally

corrected everything with a final surgery on May 30th 2002. I went

back to work August 1, 2002, I was 142#'s and was in rough shape,

should never have gone back soon. I was in a wheel chair 45 days

early. I did all right and was in good shape almost all of 2003.

Don't get me wrong, I was on pain meds and nausea medicine. But I

felt great and everything was going well until December again.

Dec. 18 I went back to MUSC and they found the old panc inlarged

again and the duct was blocked. Went in for the Puestow on January

19th 2004 and walked out 5 days later. Was fine for about two weeks

and it all started again, pain and nausea. Hasn't change much since

then, but, I have a very little piece of panc left but no diabetes.

So I guess I'm lucky in that respect.