Brief Answer:
hi
Detailed Answer:
Whipple procedure is done where there is malignant tumor of
duodenum,
pancreas and distal choledochus. It includes partial resection of stomach,
small intestine and pancreas. It is the only efficient cure for such tumors.
So ask your surgeon is it what he is planning to do.
If this is Whipple, then you ll have to be patient and hospital recovery may last for 2 and more weeks. Also you ll have to be in intensive care unit for 4-7 days. The prognosis is sometime unpredictable. People can live without stomach,
spleen and part of intestines almost normally. Pancreatic function can be replaced with pills. You will just have to adjust your diet. You may feel digestion difficulties and abdominal discomfort but this is usually not affecting quality of life very much. You will lose weight for sure after surgery. But if you know that this is life saving surgery then you shouldnt think about complications.
In these procedures it is most important that an early postoperative period is uneventful. There is always risk of
sepsis, abscesses, anastomotic leakages and many other possible complications, but if your heart,lung and
kidney function is fine then I dont expect some problems in your case.
The bad new is that it is questionable how serious this tumor is and the exact tumor location and surrounding infltration can be determined only intraoperatively. In some cases such tumors are inoperable and this is very bad sign. Sometimes there are also metastases and tumor infiltration of other organs. This would require
chemotherapy and prognosis is bad too.
If preoperative diagnostic tests didnt show metastases then you can hope for the best and this is complete tumor removal.
There is no much thing you can do to before surgery. You can strengthen your immune system by vitamins and eat healthy food. Try to think positively. Everything else depends on this intraoperative finding that I ve mentioned and on skills of your surgeon.
This all that I ve said is right if we are talking about whipple procedure and maligannt tumor. In other cases,the story is different.