ERCP and thanks for Chrissy's news

[Guest guest]

Hi Chrissy,

Thanks for the up-date. I will be thinking about you all the time.

Please let me have details and phone numbers. I hope you are feeling

upbeat about the operation now that the time is drawing near but I

can imagine your anxieties as well. It's a big deal but it does

hold out the best hope of a cessation from that debilitating pain

etc. Hopefully you're now facing your best times since quite a

while....at least, you will be once recovery from the major surgery

kicks in. I'll be with you every step of the way.

We really did relax at the reunion and in Spain. It was helpful. You

can imagine the scariness now. We are both facing possible bad news

and I have to be ready for anything for either of us.

Hopefully my ERCP itself will be OK, whatever about the outcome.

They happen to be conducting a nationwide audit of ERCP procedures

at the moment. 70 hospitals are involved, including the Royal

Liverpool Hospital. I've agreed to be in this research programme as

well as the one on secondary cancer screening, which is the main

reason for my ERCP. The audit is being carried out by the British

Society of Gastroenterology and aims to ensure consistency across

the country in the application of the procedure and deeper and

clearer understanding of why complications sometimes occur. The

Society's researcher in Liverpool is my endoscopist. At least I

know it will be carried out to the highest possible current

standards! I may have to stay in hospital overnight or longer. I

suppose it depends on whether or not I develop acute pancreatitis

afterwards. I did in 1988 when I had my last one but it only started

after I'd gone home. The pain was appalling but only lasted for a

couple of days. Hopefully it will be no worse this time. Obviously

I'm more worried about what they are going to find, either in the

test itself or in the analysis of the pancreatic juice for K-ras

mutations which could indicate cancer or pre-cancer. I think the

results of the analysis will take a while to come through as this is

a research programme and not regular treatment.

Jim's tests will give us a good idea of whether or not the cancer is

encapsulated, still in the gland itself, or has spread. He should

get the results quickly. Again, we have to be ready to face what

comes but we are hoping for the best possible outcome.

It's hard that we are both facing serious issues at the same time.

How life can change radically in a few short months! However, that

is life and I know we will get the strength we need from all the

support we have from family and friends, including yourselves!

We'll be in touch again before you leave home. Good luck to you and

to everyone facing any tests or procedures at the moment.

Sorry if my post sounds a bit sober; it just reflects the way I feel

at the minute.

With love and warm wishes,

Fliss (UK)