Pathology Report

After the Whipple, we waited anxiously to hear about my mother's pathology report. They take all the removed tissue to the lab and perform tests on it to see how well the surgery was done and whether there was any spread. Getting the results is a pretty scary moment because this will give you an idea of how advanced the cancer is. On Dec. 2 we finally got the results.

• 3.5 cm tumor on pancreatic head of type ductal adenocarcinoma
• moderately differentiated
• lymph nodes negative for tumor
• margins negative for tumor
• perineural invasion present

I think this put her at a Stage IIB which was better than we originally thought. We were relieved to hear the margins were clean and that the lymph nodes were negative. However, the size of the tumor, nerve spread and moderate differentiation are not good.