To update my “dad will be dead within the year” thread from several months back:
He underwent chemotherapy and radiation over the last couple of months, and had surgery Friday the 14th. It turns out the tumor was in his bile duct. During a five-hour surgery, the duct, the head of the pancreas and part of his stomach and small intestine were removed, and the small intestine re-attached to the appropriate organs as needed. He’ll be in the hospital for a week to ten days, depending on how well his appetite recovers and how well he manages the post-op pain.
Normal appetite isn’t expected to return for several months, and he’s currently on multiple feeding tubes. Not sure why he’d need to be on more than one tube, but then I didn’t go to medical school. He’ll apparently need to be on the feeding tubes for a couple of weeks after he’s released from the hospital. I don’t know if that means he won’t be eating on his own at all for that time or not.
I remember your original post, and this one is much better news. If my dad had been strong enough, with good enough blood counts, to undergo chemo and/or radiation, he might have survived the pancreatic cancer a few months/years. I’m hoping things go well for you and your dad - he has had a tough few months, maybe now things will be better for him. The feeding tubes will give him hydration and nutrition and hopefully help him to gain strength. Here’s hoping his comfort level and quality of life will continue to improve. Thanks for the update - beckwall
Wow, that’s terrific news. I remember your first post when they thought it was pancreatic cancer. I am very happy for your family that apparently things are looking much more hopeful now. I hope his recovery goes smoothly.
My dad’s been in recovery from a later stage prostate cancer for over nine years. He’s had one recurrence but is otherwise fine. Here’s hoping your father will also be around for a long time.
Great news Otto especially the part about the doctors feeling they got all the cancer. Here’s wishing Ottodad a full and speedy recovery and many many long years of health and happiness.
If I can offer any advice, it’s this: Since you all know that the recovery will take awhile, make sure he doesn’t sink into a depression if he’s not recovering as fast as he thinks he should.
We lost my dad last Christmas after a year-long illness after abdominal surgery*. The greatest hinderance to his recovery was his attitude. He was in the hospital for 3 months and became so depressed that he never recovered physically. He was then sent to a nursing home to be cared for and spent 9 months there. He didn’t have any fight left in him and never did his part by eating when he was supposed to and he fought everyone when we’d try to walk him. So he never got his strength back. About 2 weeks before another surgery to take part of his foot, he had just started to come around. This was almost a year after the abdominal surgery.
Please make sure he gets lots of encouragement and try to keep his spirits up. I’m convinced that if we had noticed my dad’s mental state sooner and were more proactive, that he would have recovered more quickly.
Now I’m seeing the same thing happen with another sick and elderly family member. His health is deteriorating after surgery because he’s depressed. His experience mirrors my father’s condition, but I’m not close enough to this person to be of any help (he’s an in-law of my in-law).
Congrats on the successful surgery and take care of dad.
[sub]*For your peace of mind: What killed my dad wasn’t his illness, but that the hospital gave him a double dose of morphine after the foot surgery.[/sub]
My SO had cancer in 1997 and now he is totally cancer free, but still goes for semi-annual checkups. I too am a firm believer in the power of positive thinking…starting talking future…next month we will…and next Spring we can…and next Summer, wouldn’t it be cool if we…and so on. Keep the thoughts to the future - it really does make a difference in someone’s outlook on getting better!
At any rate, congrats and I am sure the relief is good for you and your family as well!
A little more detail. Per Mom, a couple of the tubes are out and his color’s better. He’s up and walking four times a day to help ward off any blood clots. While everyone’s optimistic, at the end of the day there’s still only a 25% five-year survival rate. Still, without the surgery the prognosis was 8 months.
