That next Thursday I was unpacking boxes when I felt that the pain medicine wasn't working anymore. Because of the kidney stones, I had scheduled an appointment, but it wasn't until Friday, so I went to the UW-Hospital ER. Here the doctors ordered a CT scan of my abdomen. After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came in and told me I had an 8cm mass on my pancreas and that I needed to see my primary care doctor right away. Hearing that news wasn't too troublesome. After all, pancreatic cancer is typically an older man's disease right? I was 39 years old, I was healthy, I had no symptoms or risk factors of pancreatic cancer, but I knew they were insistent on me getting it checked.
Three weeks later, I was having a biopsy done. On August 16, 2005 it was confirmed that I had pancreatic cancer. More specifically, a non-functioning islet cell carcinoma or a neuroendocrine carcinoma of the pancreas. I had a second opinion on August 30, out of state, and on September 5, 2005 I was going in to have the whipple procedure preformed. This procedure consists of taking out part of my stomach, pancreas, small intestine and my gall bladder and then resecting the organs to work properly. After meeting with two surgeons, I knew I wanted to have the surgery in Madison at the UW-Hospital. My surgeon, not only skilled, was also concerned with my post surgical quality of life. She performed the procedure flawlessly. I was in the hospital for 7 days, recovering for more than 7 weeks, but now, almost 4 years later, I am still a survivor!
That first summer after surgery my friends and family were involved with the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, but after seeing how very little pancreatic cancer research is allocated by the National Cancer Institute I wanted to do more. In 2007, I became involved with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. This organization has raised money and given grants to highly motivated and intelligent people with the hope that a cure can be found. We have a local Madison area affiliate and are working to raise awareness of this deadly disease.
If you would like to get more involved or like to talk with me about my diagnosis, you can contact me via email (tandries@charter.net).
