The advisor for my chapter died from pancreatic cancer last November.

The current President of the AMA just announced that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He works in my health system and our statisticians work with him closely on his research. He's spent his career focusing on preventative medicine/research. Pancreatic cancer just isn't good, period.

(Oddly, one of the leading neurology researchers in our system died of brain cancer too)

I will be optimistic as well. While is a nasty disease....after being diagnosis in July 2007, my sister was declared pancreatic cancer free on 15 February 2008!! It was a tough course.

The one difference I see, is they say he is only getting chemo and not having any surgery. :( My sister had chemo, radiation AND the surgery (which is really a b!tch procedure to endure).

That is what the biographies say.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Landon

I wonder why Patrick had his surgery at Stanford. I thought M.D. Anderson in Houston was the premier place for Pancreatic cancer. (that's what I hear from my Texas pals).

My sister had her surgery at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. Since she is 100% cancer free at this time, I think they did a pretty good job.

Her doctor followed the protocol developed by MD Anderson, and a consulting surgeon received training there. :)

PC is really terrible. One of my best friends from college, her father had it and died 7 weeks after being diagnosed.

But...Steve Jobs (from Apple) also had a rare, but very treatable form of it a few years ago. He had a very agressive treatment and is doing well. In fact, he didn't even release the info to the public until he had been treated.

Jobs was treated at Stanford Medical Center, which is where Swayze is. So, maybe that's a good sign?

:::Keeping my fingers crossed that he beats this!:::

My Grandmother (Oma to us) died of Pancreatic Cancer, and if I remember correctly, one of the reasons that the survival rate is (or was then) so low is because it is hard to diagnose it. By the time they figure out it is cancer, it is too late. My Oma was first told she was a type 2 diabetic something like 2 years before she was diagnosed with cancer. They finally figured out it was PC when they couldn't get her diabetes under control. By the time they discovered the cancer, they opened her up, saw that it had spread everywhere, closed her back up, and then called the family.

I hope Patrick Swayze and all those with PC have a much better outcome.

Wow. I didn't realize that he's 55 already! That's crazy. Youngblood was just on the other week...and I think I'm one of the few people that enojyed Road House :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed as well!

I just saw the National Enquirer with him on the cover headed to his chemotherapy. His face is sooo thin and he's puffing on a cigarette. He looks bad. :(

Okay, as someone who has a first degree relative who is an oncologist, here are my thoughts/concerns.

First, the posting about Steve Jobs is correct. He did have a rare type, that was (by all accounts) successfully treated. However, his treatment was surgery... which is the unfortunate key difference here.

Since all cancers are different, I am only going to make a comment about pancreas cancer- please do NOT read the following statement into ANY other type of cancer: The fact that he is having to go to chemo is a concerning sign.

Those small percentages that have the better outcomes in pancreas cancer are ones that for whatever reason had their disease caught early enough to have it cut out. In other words- it did not spread, was very confined, and could be removed surgically.

A very sad fact about pancreas cancer is that survival is not measured in years, or months. It is measure in weeks. Yes, weeks.

It is possible that the first reports that indicated "5 weeks to live" may have been an assumption, or an average of all diagnoses of pancreas cancers. It may also be possible that when his doctor says that "we are more optimistic" than the reports that he was simply referring to more than 5 weeks. Hard to say.

I do wish Mr. Swayze the best and hope that he proves all accounts wrong. I do not come on here to presume to know his exact condition or prognosis. I only want to share some facts that may clarify the different situations that led to more positive outcomes.

The optimal treatment for Pancreatic Cancer is 5 weeks of Radiation simultaneously with 5 weeks of chemo using Gemzar. After sufficient time for tissue to recover from the radiation, a whipple surgerical procedure is done (think hard core gastric bypass and intestinal re-routing). My sister has lived through it. So far she is cancer free and her prognosis is excellent. The drs were emphatic her type of pancreatic cancer has a genetic element to it, and she insisted all our siblings have the genetic marker measurement.

No surgery does not bode well for Swayze.

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong--but didn't Jimmy Carter's mother, father, and all 3 siblings die of pancreatic cancer?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/health/07jimm.html

Apparently so. He has ct scans and mri-s semi-annually.

I would be terrified.

He will always be Miss Vida Boheme, Drag Queen of the Year.

I really hope he beats this.