Mass on my husband's pancreas

Hello everyone,

I am new here. Hopefully, I am posting this in the correct place. This is regarding my husband. He is 50 years old (11 years older than me) and he has had a "mass" on his pancreas for many years now (at least 8-10 years that I can remember). We have always been told that it was completely benign. It has been regularly monitored and all these years and it has always stayed the same size and has never gotten any bigger. My husband does have an extensive history of chronic pancreatitis that first started back in the spring of 2006 and lasted until very early 2016, when he finally had his gallbladder removed in January of 2016. For about a decade, he would have a couple of flare-ups per year of his pancreatitis. My husband has never been an alcohol drinker (literally never drinks) and his pancreatitis has always been attributed to high triglycerides as well as possibly his previous gallstones. Thankfully, he has not had a pancreatitis flare since having his gallbladder removed 5 years ago in January of 2016. Prior to that, in the summer of 2013, he was extremely ill and he actually had to have a stent in his pancreatic duct as well as multiple stents his bile duct due to repeated obstructions. He had an issue with stones getting severely lodged is his bile duct that were quite difficult to remove. During that same time, he also had a cyst on his pancreas that burst and caused him to become extremely septic. He could not keep any food down and had to have a feeding tube for a while. He was in and out of the hospital that entire summer. It was an absolute nightmare, especially since his case was too complex for our local hospital where we live, so he had to go to a hospital two hours away from here where they had a higher level of expertise. However, he had one of the top GI specialists in the country and received outstanding care and he hasn't had any episodes like that since.

Fast forward to about a a little over a month ago, he was in the hospital for two or three days right before Thanksgiving due to bilateral pyelonephritis (kidney infection) and sepsis. A few weeks after being discharged, he received a phone call from one of the doctors at the hospital, who said that radiology had looked over his abdominal CT scan and had compared it to some of his past scans and said that the mass on his pancreas has grown a bit. Last week, he went back and saw the surgeon who he had seen in the past regarding this mass and who had also previously told him that the mass was stable and that he wasn't really an ideal surgical candidate anyway due to his multiple chronic health issues (diabetes, has had open-heart surgery, etc). This surgeon has now referred him to an oncology surgeon, whom he will see in a week. The surgeon that he saw last week told him that he may require a Whipple procedure. Obviously, we are both terrified. We don't know what this mass is. For years, we have always been told that it was stable and benign, but now it has gotten slightly larger and he has now been referred to this oncology surgeon. Both my husband and I are healthcare professionals, but we are not pancreatic experts by any means. Is there any chance that this mass could still be benign? He has had it for years and none of the doctors he has ever seen have been concerned about it and always said it was nothing to worry about. My husband is absolutely terrified. I just keep telling him that everything will be okay, but I honestly am scared as well. We have been together for almost 21 years and he is my best friend. I just want him to be okay.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? He is terrified that it has become malignant, but we are hoping and praying that is not the case. Like I said, this mass has been there for years and we have always been told that it was completely harmless and benign. We could definitely use some reassurance right about now! This sure is anxiety-inducing and we are extremely worried.

0 likes, 2 replies