pancreas surgery

[jdb in AZ]

My niece had a baseball-size aneurysm on her spleen and it also involved the pancreas, so the surgeon removed her spleen and 30% of her pancreas.

Anyone have any experience with this and how it will impact her future health? She's in her mid 30's and still has 4 kids at home.

 

[Marchand63]

No experience - but sending healthy & healing vibes.

 

[smokeyblue]

I had 60% of my pancreas removed when I was 22. It was a rough recovery. I never had any problems with producing enough insulin, but it took years for my pancreatic enzymes to catch up. In the beginning it was tough to eat. Pretty much everything made me sick because I couldn't digest it. I would rarely eat away from home, and if I did, I wouldn't eat too much. I lost about 30% of my body weight in a few months. Little by little the enzyme production picked up and started to normalize. It took a good 6 months before I started feeling "okay" and probably two years before I felt totally normal again.

 

[ols386]

My cousin who is now in his 50s, was born with about 2/3 of the normal size pancreas. They didn’t diagnose him until he was a young adult.
He had a lot of stomach and eating issues as a child.

As an adult sometimes his pancreas would act up causing him a lot of pain. They eventually did a surgical procedure where they implanted something to regulate the pancreas. He still has times where it acts up but not as often as before. He lives a pretty normal life, other than the occasional flare-ups.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mickeyboat]

My FIL had a terrible bout with pancreatitis years ago, and had a portion of it removed. He had to take pancreatic enzymes for the rest of his life and later insulin. It was a long recovery because he was so sick for so long, and he did have flare ups, but he was eventually able to eat normally - although his tastes definitely changed.