- Joined
- Feb 20, 2021
No. If it's an adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, which is by far the most likely option, and it has metastisized, which, again, is very likely, he's looking at 2% overall survival at 5 years which doesn't mean disease free survival or that the patient has any quality of life. Also, 5 year survival statistics like that are misleading. I recently read a paper about a child who lived for 5 years, 40 days, on intense treatment the entire time, and was still counted in the 5 year survival percentage.Whoa, at his age too. Cancer is never a joke, but pancreatic cancer is very often fatal. 5 year survival rate is what, 10%?
So dad might outlive J!
If it's a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, which is unlikely, he may fare slightly better, with survival rates of up to 95% if it was caught at stage I.
Pancreatic tumors are never caught at stage I, though. Because of the location and nonspecific symptoms, almost all pancreatic cancer is widely disseminated upon diagnosis. If he is a candidate for surgery, which I cannot emphasize enough is not a guarantee, the procedure he's most likely to have is called a Whipple procedure, and it is a major undertaking. In my experience, even when a patient is believed to be a candidate for a Whipple, most often, the surgeon finds upon opening the abdomen that the cancer has spread too much since the surgery was scheduled to justify continuing. This means that they'll close up without removing anything and initiate palliative chemo to lessen the symptoms. The pancreas is a very delicate organ and any kind of surgery to fuck around with it is very complicated, with a long recovery, and a constellation of long-term effects.
Thank goodness he has a young, healthy adult daughter who lives locally and can help hi- oh, wait. Shit. Never mind. Uh, good luck, dude.
His life as he has known it is already over, and I give him 6-8 months of abject misery before the universe finishes the job. Julianna is in for a ride awakening regarding how brutal and intensely ugly death from this type of cancer is.
Edited to add that if it really is stage I, he needs to buy a lotto ticket immediately because he's the luckiest man on earth and will be looking at 30% 5 year survival if it is an adenocarcinoma. However, as I mentioned, it's not uncommon for a surgeon to discover that what was thought to be stage I is now stage IV and you're fucked. If he has a stage I pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, his odds of making it 5 years are great, around 95%.
However, I don't think it's a neuroendocrine tumor and I don't think it's stage I.
I wonder if J will be triggered by watching her dad waste away to a pile of bones and sinew. Since the pancreas produces enzymes that help digest food, the usual cancer associated weight loss is even more prominent in these patients.
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