Hi all, my younger sister was recently diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and we are still getting to understand the whole situation properly. Can anyone throw more light on this please? I believe all will be well though.
I am so sorry to hear of your sister's recent diagnosis.
If you want to find out more about pancreatic cancer, can I suggest that you go to the search engine on the blue banner at the top of this page. Insert pancreatic cancer and click. This will bring up previous posts on the topic, which I hope will help you.
In my opinion, the best thing for you both to do would be to speak to your doctor who gave the initial diagnosis although, I suspect they'll most likely refer her to someone who specialises in that form of cancer (as mine was referred to someone who was very knowledgeable in regards to the cancers I had) and then that will be the perfect time for you to ask all the questions that might be on your mind.
They are there to help and I don't see any reason for them not to do so otherwise. You could always just sit down and make a list of questions prior to the next appointment and take it with you as I know from my experience - I always tend to forget the questions until the moment I'm out the door! and at least this will provide you with an outline of what to expect leading up to treatments, during treatments and also life after.
It can be a lot to take in so you shouldn't ever feel like you need to understand it straight away as things can change all the time so the best approach would be to take it one day at a time and keep positive but judging from your "I believe all will be well though" you already have a positive mindset on the matter.
As each cancer is different from person to person I can't give you advice directly other than to ask a health professional - even my nurses were a great help with the support and knowledge they provided me and made me aware of the several organisations and communities that were available to people afflicted and if you'd like I can try and find the various ones I've used in the past as it was great help to be around people who understand what its like and such.
I don't wish to sound morbid but personally, I saw my cancer diagnosis as a good thing - Of course at first read of that you might be thinking: "What? That makes no sense!" but it truly makes you evaluate your life and for me it helped me realise my career wasn't where I wanted it to be etc and as a result I've been able to finally get my life back on track to where I would like it and it wasn't just that - You really do learn the true appreciation of things.
I digress, at the end day the support for cancer in this day and age is truly incredible! and the advances we've made over the years are also amazing in this regard but I certainly do wish your sister the best and hope for a good recovery.
You just have to look for the good within the bad. I hope that was of some help to you.
Very sad news. I'm not a medic, but I expect that she will now be undergoing a barrage of further tests and scans to chart the extent, exact type of cancer etc. Pancreatic cancer is very serious, as I am sure you know. One practical thing you may wish to do is to get your sister's permission to ask questions on her behalf, as she may be feeling to too numb to ask the right ones herself. She may also not wish to know the prognosis herself, but would be happy for you to know it. You could also try to find out how experienced your consultant is when dealing with pancreatic cancer. You want to have the very best people on your side when dealing with this. Good luck. Harry
Thanks a lot Harry, I do appreciate your advice. We are trying to get an experienced consultant now but time is limited before commencement of Chemo. It’s nice to know that one can express themselves on this group and take the edge off. Very helpful. God bless you
Hi LionsOMG, I do appreciate all your tips. I’ve taken note of all especially the note-taking part....very helpful.
You sound like a very nice and positive person and I hope you are feeling better now. Being able to talk to people with first-hand experience really really helps to boost one’s confidence and strength....and yes you are right about the situation having its silver lining to an extent in terms of changing one’s perspective of life as a whole. Mine has completely changed. God bless you and thanks once again for the tips.
I see you've had some lovely words of advice and support from some of our members already but I just wanted to pop by and make you aware of a section we have on our website dedicated to pancreatic cancer just here. If you have any questions do give our cancer nurses a call as they'll do all they can to help. Their freephone number is 0808 800 4040 and are available Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m.
I hope this helps and I wish your sister all the best with her treatment.
