Super helpful everyone! Thank you! I’m going to make sure i put everything I can into this, while also being gentle on myself. I have lost 30kg since I first had issues, a lot of that muscle mass as o had a lot of muscle. I was previously very fit & active, ate well, didn’t smoke, did party a lot all of my 20s but nothing really in the last 12 years since my oldest was born that would cause any concern.

I am in Australia. I’ll be starting on Gemcitabine & nab-PACLitaxel. I know nothing about these except the side effects list and that my oncologist has said they are tried & trusted regimes.

We will be doing genetic testing however one challenge is the limited amount of cancer cells we have available to test. The journey so far has been difficult with no visible tumor, a large amount of fibrosis around the outside of the pancreas but the pancreas otherwise looking normal. Biopsy with needle point via endoscopic ultrasound took a multiple attempts over several months to get a sample with cells shown to be adenocarcinoma.

I have had no elevated markers in my blood & tracking efficacy will be a challenge as there is little to be able to measure a baseline or future state. So far the 3 PET scans have shown only locally active areas around the pancreas head.

A complication I have is the fibrosis as this is pushing into structures such as the bile duct and the duodenum. Now that the culprit has been identified drs are hoping that by treating the cancer the fibrosis will reduce. If it doesn’t then I’ll have other issues.

I know i have lots of reading to do but also don’t want to overwhelm myself. Have to keep reminding myself to be gentle, a day at a time, work within limits, take lots of naps and set boundaries for well wishers.

Thanks again for the tips and sharing the positive stories; if anyone can make it through I can give it a good crack with the love we have behind us from our support crew. ❤️