Step-dad has Pancreatic cancer

[jmurray01]

I'm very sorry to hear about your Step-Father. I wish you and your family all the best for the future.

If he does build his strength up within two weeks and gets the surgery, is there a good chance he'd survive ?

 

[jinman]

You are right, Dennis. Worrying about heart trouble at this point is counter-productive. Louis needs calories, weight, and strength if he is to have any chance. Can he also drink things like Ensure. The unfortunate thing with pancreatic cancer and many others is not only is the appetite affected, but nausea occurs when anything is eaten. Loius needs something high calorie where he can eat small amounts several times a day.

Of course, I don't have lots of expertise, but I lived with my father in his last few months of having cancer and that's what we did. It's very frustrating that some days he can eat something and be fine. The next day, the same thing will make him sick. I would go down a list of foods with him until I found something that he could eat. He always loved fruit during his life, but the thought of fruit made him very sick when I would fix it for him or even fix it for myself and he could smell it. It's just not an easy task.

 

[Western]

Yes JM, the only thing preventing the surgery is his weak state, mainly due to him not eating.
Personally I think it is all the medications his primary gave him, most of which a lack of appetite is a common side effect. What I felt and the Cancer Surgeon somewhat agreed, was he was treated for depression based on his symptoms. The guy is 76 years old!! doesn't get around like he did, but still sharp minded.

The last full workup they did was around 7 months ago, that is when they Tumor was seen, but not mentioned. Although it was small then, it has grown to 2/3 of his pancreas. The incredible thing according to the Cancer surgeon, is it hasn't metastasized and they didn't find cancer in any other areas (like Limp nodes) but due to its growth rate, time is limited. Surgeon said you can live with 10% of a pancreas.

Jim, right there with you on the food thing. I took them some BB Ice cream with Hershey chocolate syrup and a few other things, I told mom he should eat anything he liked in the past, burgers, french fries, you name it. He prefers breakfast foods, so he's been eating scrambled eggs good. He has something like ensure, but he doesn't like it.

I'm to the point of asking why they just don't do the surgery, then deal with the recovery in the hospital, I mean, if he will die anyway.

PO's me, he has cancer and the one anyone would pick to have if they had too, one that is 100% operable, but can't. My gut says since he was "older", he was just a "number" or not taken as seriously, dunno

 

[dmccarty]

How about drinking olive oil. Sounds gross but if he can handle the EVOO he would gets lots of calories quick.

I read about a guy who was going to walk/ski to the North Pole. Since he could only carry a limited amount of stuff, he was learning to drink EVOO because it was packed with calories. :laughing: He was in training drinking lots of EVOO to get his body to tolerate it on the trip as well as to gain weight prior to the trip. He figured he would burn the calories off later.

I cannot remember if this guy completed the trip.

I think I would like Rox's EVOO rather than Enusre. Though Ensure would be better for you.

Later,
Dan

 

[brin]

Dennis.....I remember well when my father in law called us one day and said he was really sick...he lived real close and we ran over to his house immediately and called his doc..the Doc. said it sounded like he had a heart attack...We rushed him to the hospital where it was found that he also had lung cancer...a spot on one of his lungs...He was stabilized and I will never forget the next day my wife and I had a meeting with the Doc at the hospital and he said...the surgeon that would do the surgery for the lung cancer would not do it until the cardiologist gave the OK due to his heart...So they sent him home...this was in 1999..my FIL was 85 yrs. old...He did not make it....Now my question is....and it haunts me to this day and that is why I am sharing this with you...Looking back I wish I would have said to the Doc....so what ! Go ahead an operate on his lung...otherwise he will die anyway...see my point ? Life is a gamble...I have always wondered if these docs are not more concerned about their success / failure rates than they are about saving lives ...either that or the insurance companies who the docs are members of their network have told them that over a certain age...forget it...It still bothers me to this day...

 

[beppington]

The circle of life is beautiful to behold and participate in, even though (or maybe because?) it involves some serious heartache along the way.

 

[rsewill]

He can get a ton of calories and, especially, the fluid he needs using a feeding tube. Because they don't want to do surgery it will have to go through his nose. Because of the nausea the tube will need to go straight into his small intestine a number of inches or more. Then put him on all the calories he can tolerate using a feeding pump running 24/7 He'll make a lot of trips to the bathroom but he'll gain weight fast.

 

[Western]

Well, we thought Saturday things where looking brighter, but he is failing fast now. No food or water for about 30 hrs now. My wife and I where over yesterday through the evening and it is a sad. My wife thinks maybe 2 days, I trust her since she deals with this everyday and has seen it 100's of times. His body is just plain shutting down.

...Looking back I wish I would have said to the Doc....so what ! Go ahead an operate on his lung...otherwise he will die anyway...see my point ? Life is a gamble...I have always wondered if these docs are not more concerned about their success / failure rates than they are about saving lives ...either that or the insurance companies who the docs are members of their network have told them that over a certain age...forget it...It still bothers me to this day...

That was my thinking too in a few post earlier, I brought it up to my Mom and my wife, they both said the same thing, he would almost certainly die during surgery.

He can get a ton of calories and, especially, the fluid he needs using a feeding tube. Because they don't want to do surgery it will have to go through his nose. Because of the nausea the tube will need to go straight into his small intestine a number of inches or more. Then put him on all the calories he can tolerate using a feeding pump running 24/7 He'll make a lot of trips to the bathroom but he'll gain weight fast.

This was all tried early this past week, mentioned in one of my earlier post, the "TPN" was a direct feeding through a catheter. from what I understand, the pancreas has such an impact on nutrition since it involves the blood sugars or insulin, not 100% sure since I haven't read up on it. It appears his kidneys where also shutting down which compounds everything.

What gets me so PO'd, is I keep hearing the surgeon in my mind telling me "If they (Louis and mom) had been made aware of the tumor earlier, we wouldn't be having this conversation"

 

[jinman]

I'm really sorry Dennis. This must be an extremely stressful time. There aren't many good things, but the one you have is that you don't have to bear this alone. You have your wife, and both of you to support your mother. In times of stress, it helps to look around and find somebody else who needs support. Helping them get through it is the best medicine for yourself. Don't forget you have us here when you need to vent. No matter what the outcome, don't 2nd guess yourself. What could have happened in the past won't change the outcome at this point. Don't beat yourself up thinking about that. Just a suggestion. . .

 

[Bird]

Dennis.....I remember well when my father in law called us one day and said he was really sick...he lived real close and we ran over to his house immediately and called his doc..the Doc. said it sounded like he had a heart attack...We rushed him to the hospital where it was found that he also had lung cancer...a spot on one of his lungs...He was stabilized and I will never forget the next day my wife and I had a meeting with the Doc at the hospital and he said...the surgeon that would do the surgery for the lung cancer would not do it until the cardiologist gave the OK due to his heart...So they sent him home...this was in 1999..my FIL was 85 yrs. old...He did not make it....Now my question is....and it haunts me to this day and that is why I am sharing this with you...Looking back I wish I would have said to the Doc....so what ! Go ahead an operate on his lung...otherwise he will die anyway...see my point ? Life is a gamble...I have always wondered if these docs are not more concerned about their success / failure rates than they are about saving lives ...either that or the insurance companies who the docs are members of their network have told them that over a certain age...forget it...It still bothers me to this day...

Bob, I can understand "Go ahead an operate on his lung...otherwise he will die anyway" and in some cases, maybe that's the right thing. On the other hand . . . my paternal grandmother had one lung removed and they thought they got the cancer. But a year later, it returned in the other lung and she said the first surgery was hard enough that if she'd had any idea the cancer might return, she would not have had that first surgery. My dad had Alzheimers the last 5 years of his life, but before that he let everyone know that he'd rather die of the illness once than have parts removed a little at a time.

And I'm afraid I feel the same for myself.

I think no one can say whether your father-in-law would have lived longer with the surgery than he did without, but I can sure understand that you'll always wonder about it.