Sqad...

[Jackdaw33]

...as you're about; I was diagnosed yesterday with some permanent damage to my pancreas following a bout of severe pancreatitis 9 years ago. I have also developed a small cyst in the pancreas. Just how serious is this on the scale of things? Am I right to be alarmed? (69 year-old male),

[Islay]

You can live quite happily without a pancreas if they decide to go down that route

[Sqad]

0= no problem.
10= funeral 2.30 at the church tomorrow.

You are 2, but modify you alcohol and you will drop to 0.

Cysts of the pancreas are nearly all benign and the vast majority do not need treatment.

[Jackdaw33]

Can you? I have had my gall bladder removed and can live happily without it but a pancreas? In that case why do so many people die from pancreatic cancer?

[Islay]

My mate had his pancreas removed after a nasty car crash at 18 he is now 40 and very healthy.

[Jackdaw33]

Thank you for the reassurance, Sqad. Moderating alcohol will be difficult. I guess i'll have to stop having G & Ts with my morning cornflakes.

[Sqad]

Islay is correct in that life after total removal of the pancreas is acceptable to make the operation a viable option....although i would question the phrase "quite happily ,"

They die of cancer spread to other organs (metastasis)

[Garaman]

So long as at the end, like Churchill you can say “I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.” :)

[Postdog]

Maybe your cyst is different, but I too developed a cyst after acute pancreatitis. It caused a lot of pain, but I was left to suffer with it a long time. I was told no surgeon is in a hurry to operate on a pancreas, and there was a good chance it would disappear of its own accord after six months or so. It didn't, and I suffered daily pain for over a year.

If you are in pain, I hope you get dealt with quicker.

[Jackdaw33]

I am in no pain whatsoever, at least from that.

[gordiescotland1]

Well I went for an MRI for suspected gallstones the ultrasound was unsuccessful due to me being slightly chubby. I went back to the consultant who gave me the fright of my life and told me that there was a 1cm growth on my pancreas he had not seen it before and needed to consultant with colleagues. He eventually referred it to a pancreatic expert and it was 3 months later that they decided it was a benign anomaly and said if they scanned everyone in the population they would find these little cysts in a lot of people it has never bothered me much they now think I have a dysfunctional sphincter of oddi

[Jackdaw33]

What's 'oddi'?

[Sqad]

Not what, but who.

Ruggero Oddi. Ruggero Oddi (July 20, 1864 – March 22, 1913) was an Italian physiologist and anatomist who was a native of Perugia. He is most well known for the Sphincter of Oddi, which was named after him.

[sunny-dave]

https://tinyurl.com/yaju8tdm

[Patsy33]

^^^^^^
Lol!

[Jackdaw33]

The only sphincter I am acquainted with is my anal one. I know a lot about that!!

[Mamyalynne]

There re a lot of sphincters, most we are sublimely unaware of.

Are they simply going to monitor the cyst Jack?

[Jackdaw33]

They want me to have further blood tests but I have asked for them to be done locally as I can't afford to shell out £30+ taxi fare for the 20 mile round trip every other week. Cost me £35 yesterday, inc. tips.

[Mamyalynne]

Yes it can be an expensive business, hope they can arrange local testing.

[Jackdaw33]

Should.t be a problem. They're all computer-linked these days anyway. I can have the tests done at my GP's, 500 yards up the road.