Joe Gilbert

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.  Back in December of last year I was having a lot of stomach pain. Christmas eve I had my Gall Bladder removed. Two days later I went to Florida and ended up  back in the hospital. They found out my Central bile duct was blocked so they  put a stent in on New Years Eve.  I came back to MN at the end of January and still had a lot of stomach pain. After more CT Scans and an MRI I went back in the hospital on Valentines day. (I know I get all the holidays). They removed the stent that was installed and put in a larger and longer stent. They took more biopsies, that came back normal. The pain in my stomach got worse. 3/1/29  I was back in the hospital to get that bigger stent removed. 4/8/19 back in the hospital to place another stent. They took biopsies, that came back suspicious. 4/16/19 back in for a Spyglass procedure, (where they go in to the bile duct with a camera). The doc saw a tumor, and took specific biopsies. Those came back positive for cancer. 4/18/19 went to the U of M for a CT scan and MRI. We met with the surgeon. The surgery they want to do is the Whipple procedure. They remove part of the liver, pancreas, stomach, bile duct, and small intestine. My surgery is set for 4/30/19 at the U of M. My hospital stay will be 7-10 days. On Monday, 4/22/19 we met with the oncologist. He said there will be 6 months of chemo after surgery. I am staying hopeful and positive with  all the well wishes and prayers.