Hi Nicky

My 63 year-old husband had a Whipple procedure two years ago for cancer of the duodenum, but the operation is the same. He had half his pancreas, gall bladder, duodenum and a third of his stomach including the pylorus [the muscle that opens into the small bowel] removed.

Your mother's surgeon will tell you this is major surgery, but the advantage is it's only done by surgical experts in hospitals with exemplary liver units, so she'll be in safe hands. My husband's was in Birmingham which is one of the best. His surgery took 11 hours and he had a team of 12 medical staff working in relays.

The recovery isn't easy, she'll be in intensive care for about 48 hours and hospital for about 5-7 days after that. Her digestive system will be re-plumbed so she'll have to adjust her diet [I assume they will remove part of her pancras] but she will be given good - if strong, pain medication - my husband has a separate consultant entirely devoted to pain management.

The doctors will want her to try to eat as soon as possible to get her system funtioning again. If she cannot, they might try her on liquid supplements [Fortisips] which are heavy in calories and will help build her up. They are available on prescription too so your GP can supply them when she gets home. [My husband is allergic to milk so he had to have Fortijuice instead - yes I know he's a complete nightmare and we also discovered he cannot tolerate opiates either - so no morphine - what a challenge he was!]

Once on solid food, your mother will also need to take Creon capsules with every meal [my husband takes six each mealtime - while eating - not before or after - that's important] This isn't a drug, its an enzyme she'll need to process food which is normally produced by the pancreas. Experience will tell you how much she'll need - it's not a fixed dose for each person.

My husband opted not to have chemotherapy straight away, although it was offered -  as his tumour was contained - but they found new growths on his liver after 12 months so he had chemotherapy last March. [EOX-which wasn't as bad as any of us anticipated] It shrunk two of the tumors which are now 'undetectable' He has been stable for six months and apart from some digestive issues we all have to deal with, pain is minimal and he's still working. He gets very tired which we were told is a residual effect of chemotherapy and sleeps a lot, but otherwise life is normal - although we get twitchy when his next scan is due.

We know it will come back, but two years on, he is living with cancer and not dying from it.

My husband is what his doctor calls an 'extremely informed patient' He watched videos of the surgery beforehand - yes I know - who DOES that?' So there isn't much he doesn't know.

I hope I have helped a bit and not made everything seem darker. I'm happy to talk through anything you're worried about.

Anne