references to pancreatic cancer in the news

[rosieh]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... =1770&ct=5

[rosieh]

I wondered if anybody had seen this, and if it's as encouraging as it sounds?


http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 93970.html

[afc333]

Dear Rosieh, Yes we also saw the article about the new operation being pioneered at the Royal Free and when my wife goes for her next appointment there with the oncology dept we are going to ask about it. This Feb we celebrated with thanks to God the fifth anniversary of her pc diagnosis.

Patrick Swayze's story will be followed with great interest (I loved Ghost) and as always my hope is that when a celeb is involved it will bring publicity leading to concrete support for more research regarding pancreatic cancer. afc

[Support Team]

If surgeons cannot remove all of the tumour there is a high risk of the cancer returning at the site of the surgery or to spread elsewhere in the body such as the liver. Chemotherapy is usually given to help reduce this risk. Portal vein resections such as these now reported have been undertaken for 20 years in selected patients. The replacement of the portal vein is already undertaken by many surgeons elsewhere in London, the rest of the UK and abroad to enable patients to have more or all of their tumour removed. The main issue is which patients will get benefit from this technique and that is still debated by surgeons nationally and internationally. Once the tumour has encased the portal vein there is a risk the cancer is already in the blood system and so may spread elsewhere so systemic treatment with chemotherapy is still likely to be required.

[rosieh]

Thanks for the extra info, Administrator (is that you, Sue??) :)

afc333. it is great to hear that you and your wife have just celebrated 5 years post diagnosis. :)

[afc333]

Did anybody see Hotel Babylon earlier this week, Tuesday 25th March? The main plot was about the staff trying to cope with the demands of the film crew. The subplot which came on screen without warning was about a young woman recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given six months to live. She wants to have her last fling. The story develops that she broke with her boyfriend without telling him because she didn't want him to see her go downhill. The hotel purser gets involved and engineers the boyfriend to come to the hotel and be told, and eventually he finds out about the cancer and is determined to journey with her and support her.

My wife found it very distressing and we switched off. Two questions went through my mind. The BBC did give a warning that there was objectionable language, but didn't say anything about the plot. The second was that the story writer chose pancreatic cancer because it was terminal. There is a line about 'Can't they use lasers or something to treat it? No. This is it' This is clearly the public perception.

If anybody wants to check this out, I found Iplayer works well - you can download it and then go to any part of the programme.

[Support Team]

So sorry she was upset. There was some advance warning in a report in a Scottish newspaper earlier in the week.

They also mentioned losing hair from chemotherapy - why do people always assume you lose your hair which doesn't happen with the standard drugs used for treating pancreatic cancer (just thinning)

[svalentine21]

This is a reply to afc333 (couldn't do a PM!). It's great to hear your wife's still OK after 5 years - pancreatic cancer is not 'hopeless'. My wife also has inoperable and we both aim to be celebrating wedding anniveraries for many years to come. She, like your wife, refuses to accept the prognosis and protects herself from any mention of terminal cancer, especially in relation to pancreatic. That can be stressful for us as partners, and it's difficult to maintain a positive outlook when your own oncologist treats you with a sense of impending doom! what sorts of symptoms does your wife have now?
Simon