Pain after Whipple surgery still intense 7 weeks later

Hi everyone, 

I am totally new to posting on any forums. My husband had the Whipple for cancer of the duodenum 7 weeks ago. Complicated by having Pneumonia and also leak from Pancreas for which he still has a drain in. He hardly eats, in constant pain, was constipated but sorted with suppositories. Extremely fatigued and I think, understandable, depressed. I am very worried about him. He has a CT scan booked for  Wednesday.  Anyone else had these problems? Thank you 

  • Hi, I am sorry to hear about your husband. My husband was diagnosed with duodenal cancer last year and had the whipples surgery. Whilst he had no complications post-operatively, I remember being told that pancreatic leakage is common. In my husband’s case, he lost a huge amount of weight leading up to and after the operation and really struggled to eat for some time afterwards. In his case it was as much psychological than physical as he just couldn’t face food and the thought of it was unbearable to him. However, after several months his appetite returned to about 80% normal and he has now put a lot of his weight back on. He was weak for many months but gradually his strength came back - it is such a huge operation to recover from. I hope this has helped a little bit - please get in touch if I can offer any more advice - duodenal cancer is so rare so it is hard to find other people going through the same.

    Take care, Jess

  • Hi Jess,

    Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It does help to know that what he is going through is normal after this operation, just so hard watching our love ones suffer so much. Feel rather helpless but hey he is still here.

    Many thanks again

    Magg