My Mm Has PC in the head of the pancreas

First of all I think if a person has diabetes and had any kind of cancer in the past she/he must be careful! My mum had breast cancer 11 years ago, her diabetes very difficult to control.

It all started in July last 2007.

She started losing weight, but because she had taken some kind of tea ( I don't know if I am allowed to say the name of the tea on this website) to help her to loose weight she didn't really think she was ill.

At the same time mum used to complaint about gases. She went to many doctors but she was never disgnosed .

Mum lost weiht very quickly and in March she started having dihorrea; again she was misdiagnosid. They said she had intestinal disease.

Mum is diabetic so the doctors (if I can call them doctors...) were saying that the fact she was loosing weight, having dihorrea was due to the high level of diabetes.

She went to an endocrinologist who asked for a MRI from the abdomen which showed the tumour.

The tumour was quite big and it was in the head of the pancreas which is even more complicated than if it was on the body or tail.

Mum didn't have the wiple but the doctor (very good doctor...private!!) operated her by opening a canal from the stomach to intestines (not the protese) in order to give her some quality of life.

Before the surgery she was eating everything but she was always complaining about pain on her back. We thought it was kidney but no, it was the tumour touching a nerve close to her spine.

She has started chemeo and she is still loosing weight. She has lost more than 3 stones.

My sister is looking after her as i live in london and they live in Brazil.

MY sister is doing everything to my mum, mesuring the level of the glicose, injecting insuline, making sure mum eats every 2 hrs, taking her regularly to see the doctors, watching what mum eats and making sure it is all well prepared, loking after the house duties, treating mum when she has hypoglycemia, etc.

I am working and sending financial help. As we didn't have any luck with the doctors from the insurance we decided to go private, everything is expensive!

The most important is that my mum is doing well. She was in hospital last week with pneumonia and anemia but it seems that she's recoverd from it.

I just hope that she gets better everyday, and that we can spend lots of good times together.

Hi,

My Sympathy goes out to you and your family, it must be a very worrying and distresful time for you all. It saddens me to see that the diagnosis was delayed so much but that is one of the main problems with PC as it has symptoms which are very similar to lots of other illnesses. I sadly lost my mum to PC last year, we and the doctors thought she had cirrosis of the liver to start with until a CT scan revealed different, it can be a real shock.

Your Mum is very lucky to have such a caring family with you and your sister clearly looking after her. It must be really difficult to control the diabetes as well if she is not up to eating. Have you made any plans to go over to Brazil to see them?

I wish you and your family all the best.

Lucy x

hi, sorry this a very brief reply, am sorry to read about the problems your mother/family have experienced.

with referance to your mums weight loss,...... is she on creon. enzymes in a capsule that would enable her to digest her food properly and get goodness from it, other than it going straight through her, if she isnt and you want more info, you can read my other posts, on monday when pcuk is open you can ring the ones who can really help you.love and good wishes laura xx

ps. my hubbys pc also in head of pancreas, whipple attempted, feb 2010, doing ok, had 19 months chemo!