George
George, 72 diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer
adenocarcinoma which had spread to the liver in April 2011
I'll never really
know, but I guess my problems may have started in September 2010,
when I consistently woke up in the middle of each night with a
strange feeling in my abdomen which was not painful and which I
could only describe to my GP as "butterflies". We both agreed that
it may have been due to stress (I had been organising my daughter's
wedding) and it would probably go away. But it didn't! I
subsequently asked my GP for something to help me sleep and, after
she carefully examined my stomach, I was prescribed
anti-depressants.
The feeling then changed to a mild cramp which only occurred
when I was laying on my back and which disappeared when I turned
onto my side. My GP indicated that this was almost certainly a
muscular problem and nothing to worry about. But then the "cramp"
occurred more regularly, whether I was lying, sitting or standing
and it became quite painful. Another visit to my GP, another
stomach-feeling session and she organised an ultrasound scan.
I had this in April, 2011 and then things happened quickly. The
radiologist informed me that "something" was on my pancreas and
also my liver and that she would contact my GP immediately
recommending that I see a specialist urgently. At this point, my
wife and I decided to see a specialist surgeon privately. This I
did and he organised a CT scan which found a large tumour on my
pancreas and several smaller ones on my liver. He indicated that
these may not necessarily be malignant and that biopsies would be
necessary.
At this point, I searched the internet and learned several
unpleasant facts….pancreatic cancer is the most difficult to
treat…..only one in four sufferers last 12 months, etc. So, I began
to plan for the worst, but hoped for the best. I started to "get my
house in order" so that my wife could deal with various matters
such as internet banking, etc. after my death. I also made a point
of not buying anything for myself, cancelling holidays and
generally became very depressed and miserable.
A subsequent liver biopsy proved inconclusive (this raised our
hopes) but then an endoscopy into my pancreas confirmed the
malignancy and a laparoscopy confirmed that the tumours on my liver
were also malignant. This apparently ruled out an operation to
remove the pancreatic tumour.
The next step was chemotherapy and, not having private medical
insurance, and knowing the likely cost of chemotherapy, we
initially opted for NHS treatment and I had the usual preliminary
visits to hospital to arrange this. However, I then heard about a
paper in the "New England Journal" which discussed the effects of
treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer using a
chemotherapy drug called FOLFIRINOX and which showed a fairly
significant increase in life expectancy over GEMCITABINE AND
CISPLATIN which the local NHS were using. My initial reaction
was that it was out of the question to fund this myself, since,
although we have savings, a likely cost of £45000 or so for an
extra 6 months or so of life seemed very expensive (I am a
Yorkshireman!).
My wife and daughters had other opinions however and they
persuaded me to see an oncologist privately. He indicated that,
although I was 71, I was quite fit and suggested that we go ahead
and then review the situation after 4 treatments. So, very much
against my best intentions I agreed (women can be very persuasive).
Then, oh dear! The after effects of the first chemotherapy were not
good! I went through a 48 hour period of constant vomiting. I felt
terrible and the fact that I was actually paying for this pain made
it worse. I just wanted to die and decided that enough was enough,
so no more chemotherapy. I cancelled the second session and instead
had a discussion with the oncologist. He suggested that he
reduce the drug to 80% of its normal dose and asked me to consider
this. Again, much pressure from my wife and daughters and I
agreed.
I completed my course of 12 chemotherapy sessions in
mid-February, 2012 and felt much better. The first 8 days after
each session were rough (any physical effort, e.g. showering, made
me very tired, I felt sick, but didn't vomit thank goodness and my
fingers and feet were very sensitive to cold) but, apart from still
tiring easily I felt quite well. No vomiting and very little pain.
At the same time, the CA19.9 cell marker had dropped from a peak of
33000 to around 120 and I'd also replaced most of the two stones in
weight that I originally
lost. My attitude to life also changed in that I did enjoy myself,
I did spend money on myself and we planned holidays. My state of
mind had obviously become
more positive and I'm told that my sense of humour had
returned.
On the downside I suffered a DVT in January (quite common with
pancreatic cancer I'm told) so my wife is now enjoying giving me a
daily injection of enoxaparin. I also have to wear thigh
length compression stockings and, horror of horrors, I have to wear
a suspender belt!! Oh, and did I mention that I developed diabetes
shortly after the cancer was diagnosed? Again I'm told that this is
a common side effect. I'm now injecting insulin twice a day.
Unfortunately, the abdomen and back pain returned in April
2012 and at the same time, the CA19.9 marker started to increase at
quite a high rate. My oncologist recommended more chemotherapy and
I started this a week ago so I'm now feeling really rough. I
have the usual chemo sickness feeling and I'm also experiencing
diarrhoea. I'm just not sure what will happen now but I'm told I'm
still being positive. I know the tumours will eventually kill me
but if only one in four sufferers last for a year, then I intend to
be that one!
April 2012