I was hospitalized for four days following the procedure and then went home to continue to recuperate. House, at Simon Cancer Center, University Hospital in downtown Indianapolis. I had the Whipple procedure on May 11, 2021, performed by Dr. Fortunately, my levels of CA 19-9 decreased in response to the chemotherapy. My chemotherapy regimen was repeated six times prior to the Whipple procedure. But despite all of this, I was able to work out in the weeks between chemotherapy, which hopefully increased the number of my circulating T cells. As the name suggests, when you take the first bite of some food you end up with a tremendous zinging feeling in your salivary glands. The one side effect that I experienced that I had not previously read about was first bite syndrome, quite an interesting side effect. I experienced nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, neuropathies, abdominal pain, and severe fatigue. I can report to you that all of the side effects that are listed in the textbooks do in fact occur in clinical practice. Since I was trained in pharmacology, I knew the mechanism of action of these chemotherapy agents, as well as their side effect profile. I would return to the infusion center on the third day where they would disconnect the pump and flush the port. I then went home with a fluorouracil pump, which I wore for the next three days. I received the infusions of irinotecan and oxaliplatin at the infusion center following pretreatment with steroids and anti-nausea drugs, such as ondansetron. My chemotherapy was the modified FOLFIRINOX regimen consisting of irinotecan, oxaliplatin, and fluorouracil. Several days later, I had a chemotherapy port implanted at Indiana University Health North Hospital. It was agreed that we would begin neoadjuvant therapy, which would be followed by a Whipple procedure, which would then be followed by additional chemotherapy. Anita Turk, my oncologist, were the first to give me any hope. I decided on treatment at Indiana University’s Schwarz Cancer Center right at home in Carmel. Fraser was incredibly helpful as I reviewed my options. As I explored the major cancer centers, Dr. It was during this period of time that I began to search for treatment options and physicians. No visitors were allowed in the hospital so I utilized the time to learn as much as I could about pancreatic cancer and the organizations that support patients with this diagnosis. The ERCP procedure caused pancreatitis, and I was admitted to the hospital the next day, at the height of the COVID pandemic. An ERCP was scheduled for the following Monday, which confirmed that the tumor was cancerous. In fact, I had worked on the clinical development of Gemzar when I was the director of clinical research for Eli Lilly, Japan.įortunately, I was diagnosed very quickly from the time symptoms began. I knew what this meant, as I was a long-time researcher at Eli Lilly. The CT scan showed the presence of a tumor in the head of my pancreas. But fortunately we were able to find a local hospital that could do a scan that afternoon.
First bite syndrome oxaliplatin full#
It took a number of phone calls to get the abdominal scan scheduled, given that most emergency rooms in the greater Indianapolis area (where I live) were full of COVID patients. After running a few blood tests in the office, she indicated that we needed to do an abdominal CT scan. I immediately called my primary care physician, Dr.
On Thursday, January 14th, I had lunch with my wife, who noticed that I was a bit jaundiced. Since we were in the middle of the pandemic, I was working from home. But I continued to have minor pain over the next two days, and I continued to blame on the pea soup. I attributed the pain to the soup, since it did not taste quite right. The pea soup didn’t taste so good, but I thought nothing further of it until Monday, when I had some stomach pain. It was extremely cold that day so when I came in from working in the yard, I had a bowl of pea soup to warm up. On Sunday afternoon, January 10, 2021, I took down the outside Christmas decorations. Chemo, a Whipple procedure, and more chemo.Nausea and jaundice lead to a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
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