Dr. Coppa further described what he did during the surgery. My gall bladder was removed. Two- thirds of my stomach was removed, more than typical since he saw a mass in the middle area. Rather than finish the PC surgery and then get back biopsy results from the stomach, he decided to remove the other part of the stomach in the surgery. He did not want to risk having to do a second surgery for the stomach with me in a very weakened state. As it turned out, the stomach biopsy was negative. But Dr. Coppa definitely did the right thing!!!
In addition, I learned that during Whipple surgery – once the procedure is completed -- the organs are placed back into the chest cavity in a different order than they were in originally. An anecdote: When my oncologist ordered my post-surgical CT- scan, the radiologist had a hard time deciphering it. The scan results had to be sent to Dr. Coppa so that he could explain that everything in my body was where it was supposed to be – and where he intended it to be.
Still being rather naïve about pancreatic cancer, I didn’t really appreciate the intensity of all the post- op stuff. I don’t know why I thought things would be easy after surgery as long as all of the cancer was removed. I was about to find out how off target that I was. What followed was truly an adventure.
Here's one reason why I consider myself to have been so lucky in this part of my journey and not unlucky. My family was fantastic in supporting and encouraging me. And so many friends and colleagues were there for me. I asked a lot of questions of those I knew who had surgery for all types of cancer: such as lung, prostate,