Living with the after effects of a whipple

TMI - this post maybe a little more graphic than you anticipated, so reader beware. But i meant this blog to present life after pancreatic cancer and sometimes it gets messy. With all the negative I read and continue to read on the web about the survival rate of PC survivors i sincerely hope and pray I'm one of the lucky ones. But on days like today it's hard to keep that positive outlook.

The good days are really good and I almost forget I ever had Pancreatic cancer or half my pancreas and stomach removed and life is all rosy. But the bad days are really bad when i dream of a regular bowel movement or hope to eat the most basic of meals without the urge to throw up.

Last week I battled with mild constipation and very irregular bowel movements, now this week I have diarrhea the likes you've never seen.

Just as good health helps me to forget and try to live as if there weren't that pesky '95% PC survivors don't make it to 5 years' sentence looming over head, crappy health drives me into a depressive spiral where I have to fight the urge to get my affairs in order.

I stumbled quite accidentally onto the premature Steve Jobs obit today and i didn't realize he had had Pancreatic cancer which led me to this which is so bleak and caused me to wonder if i was living on borrowed time myself.

I wish there were more positive stories out there. That that miraculous 5% were more vocal, that's what this blog was meant to be and that's what I sincerely hope it will be.

The digestion/bowel issues themselves are not cause for concern but coupled with my rising Amylase levels have me worried. The best case senario? A case of pancreitis, i've been there done that before and it's not pretty. The first one landed me in the hospital for a week (August 2005) a more recent one (nov 2008) was handled by my GP. I lost 5lbs over the course of one weekend where i could keep nothing , not even water down, an injection for the pain and tons of meds with one week medical leave and i was ready to face the world again.

The worse case scenario will remain unspoken....

Of course it could be just a simple stomach flu, which it usually is after I get myself all worked up. That I can handle right now and that's what I’m hoping for.

My 6 month CT Scan is about a month away and I'm scheduled to do some blood work within the next couple of weeks to check those Amylase levels, maybe I can convince my GP to advance the CT scan by 2 weeks.

I've been turning this around my mind for the past couple days and I think getting it down will help release me of it so i can concentrate on other endeavours.

In other good news lunch i ate 2 hours ago is still with me!!! baby steps :-)