When you hear the treacherous word, "cancer" you of course assume the worst, immediately, in your head, but then you try and rationalize with yourself and think you can make it through this you can survive and quotes come to mind, "don't just survive, thrive," well it just isn't the case for all cancers.
I do not have pancreatic cancer, I do believe that this, "silent killer," will be the death of me someday though, but that's another topic. My grandmother was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer at the end of October, 2009. I had never heard of it before- you just don't hear of pancreatic cancer in the news.
It all started rather suddenly and went all downhill from there. We brought her to the hospital for symptoms of not being able to hold her bladder, hard time swallowing food or eating,
weight loss (something that was minor to us but a big indicator of this type of cancer to be found out later) and onset diabetes- which I know is a cause of her pancreas not working properly (I cannot stand when we are in the hospital and they want to watch what she eats; she is dying and she has been told by the best surgeon for this cancer that she can have
whatever she'd like so I really wish nurses would stop saying, "We've got to watch your sugar." They don't know the full story nor will they ever fully understand it until they are personally affected by it.)
This cancer is serious. Everyone should be aware and informed of it. I know there are little to no indicators of the cancer before it is too late, but being educated helps. If you have a family history you should get screened. I found this website that I think is helpful for more pancreatic cancer information.
http://apps.pathology.jhu.edu/blogs/pancreas/?p=23
