Living with Pancreatic Cancer

For every type of cancer, there are survivors….this is a statement that I had to keep repeating to myself. In January 2003 my husband was hospitalized with pancreatitis. The CT scan, however, showed a mass in his pancreas and two tumors in his liver. A biopsy of the liver showed that he had pancreatic cancer with metastis to his liver. The gastroenterologist told us to “…go home and settle your affairs.”

With every word he spoke, it felt as though all of the air was being sucked out of the room. He gave us no hope for survival beyond 3 to 6 months. He never suggested seeing an oncologist or any other physician. A friend told me, “For every type of cancer, there are survivors.” Fortunately, we did not heed the doctor’s advice. At this point, we were frantic to find out everything we could about pancreatic cancer. We decided to go to the Arkansas Cancer Research Center in Little Rock. My husband had radiation and combined chemotherapy of 5FU and gemicitibane. A surgeon attempted to do the Whipple procedure but the tumor was too close to a main vessel. We thought this would be the end, but I remembered my friend’s encouraging words.

We are starting on our 6th year of recovery. My husband has continued on various chemotherapy treatments, cisplatin, gemzar, etc. The past two years he has been on Avastin and Tarceva. I credit my husband’s long survival to a combination of 3 things: his positive attitude, having a physician that kept up with the latest advances in treatment, and the prayers of our family and friends. Without any one of these, we wouldn’t have made it. And I wouldn’t have made it without knowing that for every type of cancer, there are survivors!!!