Mom's Story

[LLA]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Lisa and my mom (67 yrs) is undergoing tests to find out what is going on with her.

I've spent some time on this forum over the last week and have already learned a lot, thank you for sharing your stories! What we know so far: mom had severe pancreatitis (almost lost her) last summer but she pulled through that. Since then, she has had diarrhoea on and off, has had periodic pain in her abdomen, has been weaker than usual (weaving when walking and falling more often). She was also just told her kidney disease which was diagnosed about a year ago has increased to stage.

Mid January, she got ill with either a virus or infection of some sort, was given different antibiotics that didn't seem to help too much. While trying to figure out what was wrong, they took a CT scan and found a 2.8 x 1.3 lesion in the pancreatic head / uncinate, previously a smaller lesion was noted here (although we don't recall being told that). CA19-9 was recorded at 47. MRI was done and they confirmed it was not liquid. She will have an endoscopy this upcoming Friday.

While I keep telling myself to remain positive, I just have a bad feeling (and I'm usually a very optimistic person). Thankfully I will be able to travel to be with my mom for this procedure and hopefully we will be able to get some results while I'm there. I'm curious to know how often these lesions turn out to be benign, as I continue to hope that will be the case, and that hopefully they'll be able to get it under control. I'm also curious as to how much information they'll be able to give us on Friday after the endoscopy.

Nice to "meet" you all and if I've learned anything from this forum it is to take one day at a time. I'm open to any and all words of wisdom. ~Lisa

[PCUK Nurse Jeni]

Hi Lisa,

Welcome to the forums, and thank you for your post.

Its good to hear that you have been reading the forums already, and that you have found them helpful.

I am sure that you will get a great welcome from the other members on here, who are very encouraging and helpful.

In the meantime, should you wish to contact us for any reason, please see the email address at the bottom of this signature.

Kind regards,

Jeni.

Jeni Jones

Pancreatic Cancer Specialist Nurse

Support Team

Pancreatic Cancer UK

email: support@pancreaticcancer.org.uk

support line: 0808 801 0707

[Guest]

Hi Lisa,

Welcome to the forum, no one wants to be here but as you have already found, its a great place of solace and understanding as well as some very useful tips. The nurses are brilliant so if you or your Mom have questions or are worried then do call them, they won't mind if it turns out to be something or nothing.

We all completely understand and are very familiar with the anxiety of waiting for procedures and tests and then waiting again for the results. The only thing you can do is use diversions, try and get on with things and make every day as good as it possibly can be until you know where you stand. I hope you have a good team at your hospital and GP surgery who will help you access all the help available to you once you have a diagnosis but until then, try not to do too much internet surfing, it doesn't help and can increase anxiety.

Glad you can be with your Mom, I'm sure she will appreciate your being there to support her. At the end of the day all any of us can do at this stage is hope and pray. You will be in our thoughts.

Marmalade xx

[Elaine123]

Hi Lisa I think Marmalade has said it all so thoroughly that all I can do is agree with her comments ....this is the place to be if you are confused or worried or just need advice about anything at all someone always responds. I would be lost without the comfort it gives me. Hoping and praying you get speedy results. Stay strong

Elaine

X

[LLA]

Thank you for the kind and supportive responses! After the endoscopy last Friday, doc said he thinks it's a non-cancerous deteriorating cyst (described it as a smushed grape). He took a biopsy and we should get results in about a week. We all feel very relieved, and hopefully the biopsy will prove this is the case. I've seen folks mention cysts throughout this forum, I guess some are benign and some are not. Doc said it was a positive sign that there was nothing else showing up on surrounding organs or anywhere else on the pancreas. She does however have multiple cysts on her kidneys, but doc didn't seem concerned about these, perhaps they're common? I'll let you know how the biopsy comes back. I do wonder if doctors try to make it seem very optimistic until they have reason to not be?

[Justamo]

Hi Lisa.

One of the doctors that Peter saw early on said he had multiple cysts on his kidneys but we got the impression that they were not significant at all. His oncologist, Dr Feelgood, nags him about drinking water because his kidney function is not all that great but doesn't connect the test results with the cysts.

So I wouldn't worry about them too much. I do hope that nothing too serious is found when they do the biopsy.

Best wishes, Mo