organizational Thoughts
Janet’s comment on the “why whippleLife” page has me thinking more about how this resource can be best structured for effective use. I’m going to try starting topical discussion posts on this main page to address common concerns like the question of diet which Janet raised. Though I’m still working to organize my own story in a chronological fashion for “recovery from the cure,” it seems that making topical recovery point prominent might be helpful.
The more I work on the blog the more concerned I become. I’ve uncovered several comments about long-term issues with the whipple surgery that are, quite frankly, frightening. Anyone just stumbling across a testimonial or two might feel as if they have no chance of a “normal” life after the surgery. I’m heartened, though, my information I came across very early in my process which indicated that rates of complication, short-term and long-term, were greatly dependent on the facility in which the procedure was performed and the experience of the team performing it. In addition, most statistics about long-term complications do not reflect recent advances in technique nor an increase in the number of well-qualified facilities.
I hope to be able to track down some of these more revealing statistics and see if a fuller picture can be presented. I’m inspired by the first person I talked to who had had the procedure. He’s a retired surgeon who had the surgery when it was 75. He’s now in his 80’s and leads a life almost identical to the one he did prior to surgery, including playing tennis several times a week!
Despite what is prevalent, there are many similar success stories out there and the statistics are not all hopeless.
whipplelife
June 16, 2008