I'm doing well, and still ahead of the surgeon's expectations ... BUT
There had to be a but, didn't there?

I've known for two weeks that in the pathology lab work, they found that one of the 17 lymph nodes that were in the removed mass had cancer cells in it. But I was not able to see the oncologist till today, so only a few people have been told.

But, it does mean I will be undergoing chemo-therapy to try and make sure they got it all.It doesn't sound too bad, except that it will be one dose every week, 3 weeks out of 4, for 24 weeks! Even without the chemo, they say the chance of re-occurrence is very low, but if the chemo improves the odds, I'll take it.

However, thankfully, the chemo, (Gemzar), is not as bad as many. It is less likely to cause nausea, and should not cause hair loss, so I will not have to replace the wigs I gave away 4 years ago.

I am also going to sign up for a clinical trial of a vaccine** specific for Pancreatic cancer. This will never be intended to prevent it, nor as a treatment by itself, but it already shows signs of reducing the re-occurrence after surgery and chemotherapy. They just need a larger trial sample before getting approval.

I should find out Friday whether or not I will be in the 50% who get the vaccine. The vaccine is given a total of 11 times over 26 weeks, 6 injections each time, and can involve pain, even swelling, so they will not be giving me placebo if I do not get the vaccine. I'll just know it is not being tested on me.

Holly

** The vaccine is a 'HyperAcute Immunotherapy, using genetically engineered dead pancreatic cancer cells to get my body's immune system to recognize the cancer cells better than it normally would.