Colin

[Big D]

Hello everyone

My dad has just been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. He is 71. It is in the middle section of the pancreas and the tumour had pressed down on his duodenum and caused a blockage. He started being sick on 19th Jan. A few doctor's appointments later he was admitted to hospital and had an operation on 2nd March. The surgeons cut his intestine and made a new opening in the stomach and attached the intenstine (below the blockage) to the new opening. They also found that the cancer had spread to the omentum

He is currently on TPN but he is now trying to eat jelly, sloppy porridge, etc. However, despite having an endoscopy last week which discovered that although swollen, the new opening was open, he is only keeping the food down for a maximum of 12 hours.

He is very frustrated as he knows that he has to stay in hospital until he can eat normally. The dietician has said that he needs 2200 calories a day. The TPN is currently providing 2000 calories. He is an avid walker and extremely fit otherwise. He was doing over 30 miles walking a day (yes, a day) last year.

We dont know what the future holds although he has been given roughly 6 months. He hasn't decided on chemo yet and anyway they wont give him this until he can eat.

Any comments, suggestions, opinions would be great.

Thank you

[PCUK Nurse Jeni]

Hi,

Firstly, welcome to the Pancreatic Cancer UK discussion forums. I work as a member of the Support and Information Team at PCUK, and wanted to let you know that we provide a support service for people affected by pancreatic cancer where we can provide specialist information and support. You can contact the the service at support@pancreaticcancer.org.uk

I'm sorry to hear that your father is having difficulty eating and keeping food down. Has your father been given any type of enzyme replacement, such as creon to help with the digestion of food? Pancreatic cancer can alter the normal function of the pancreas by creating a deficiency of pancreatic enzymes which can cause poor absorption of nutrients from food. You might want to check with the dietician?

Kind regards

Anna

[Big D]

Thanks Anna, I will check this with the dietian.

Grace