I'm a late middle aged man - can I still say that at 61? :-). I live in a small rural village in Surrey. I grew up in Devon so have a hankering for the countryside. Two grown sons (23 and 21) and a lovely wife (married 25 years in this August) without whom I'd be lost. I love them all dearly.
Bile duct cancer (inoperable) - diagnosed 27 March 2023. Came as a complete surprise when I became ill with jaundice while on holiday. Thought it was 'curtains' for me with a prognosis of 12.8 months (that was with chemo). Today is 20 May 2024 so I've beaten that first hurdle. I'm told that the ONLY real cure for cholangeocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) is surgery followed by chemo to sweep up any stray cancer cells.
So, how to make me a candidate for surgery? I had a chemo (Cisplatin/Gemcitabine) and immunotherapy (Durvalumab) combination that worked well last spring/summer - 6 cycles/12 sessions over 5 months. Surgery was still deemed too tricky. So, I'm back on the chemo cocktails again since February with another 2 months to go. Then more scans and the hope that a surgeon might (this time) decide to give it a go. I live in hope.
I'd be delighted to chat to anyone with bile duct cancer (since it's quite rare to find people who have it) but I'm happy to happy to talk to, share with and borrow from anyone who might have helpful tips for coping with the sheer scale of it all - mentally, emotionally and physically. At the end of the day it's tough for everyone - patient, family and carers. So, the more we can help one another the better. I've not been very good at it, frankly. It's taken me over a year to find this Forum!
Kindest wishes to you.
PS: I'm a big believer in being armed with research and knowledge about new forms of treatment for cancer especially Billary Tract Cancers. Always good to face an oncologist with a few bright ideas to fire up their creative juices and ask them to dig a little deeper into the 'art of the possible' when it comes to me and my cancer. It gives me hope that one of them might be suitable for me at some point. Here's an interesting and encouraging link to the web page of the AACR (the American Association for Cancer Research) for anyone with bile duct cancer...
