THE CONSULTANT MEETING

We arrived at the hospital in good time and made our way to the out patient clinic. The clinic was already running 30 minutes behind so we knew we would have a wait. Around 50 minutes later we were called.


The consultant was  very pleasant and frank about my friend's situation. He confirmed that she had indeed got pancreatic cancer and the prognosis as it stood was 6 - 18 months. He then went on to explain the possible options.


Although the growth was 4cm which normally wouldn't be considered for an operation, he felt that the pictures from scans and endoscopy indicated that removal was a possibility, but confirmation of this would not be possible until they opened her up. Even then removal may not mean a cure and even if an immediate cure could be achieved the growth would be likely to come back in a few years.


The second option would be re-constructive surgery, which would mean creating a bypass around the growth. This would negate the need for the drain and bag and would alleviate symptoms such as sickness and being unable to eat. This could either be carried out as separate operation or if unable to remove the growth once opened up.


The third option was a procedure under sedation which would allow the drain and bag to be removed, but would still mean having the bypass operation at a later date.


This was a massive amount of information to think about, so my friend was given 7 days to think about it. A return has been arranged for 6th June at 10am.