Ken Szeto

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While my dad's wife Lynette was hospitalized in April, my dad experienced epigastric abdominal pain that radiated to his back. After a few days of discomfort, he finally went to the emergency department at Methodist University Hospital. While I was driving home from work and my dad was still waiting to be seen, I told him that I suspected he had pancreatitis. The next morning, my dad sent me a voicemail saying I was right- his lipase was 17000. Because he wanted to be there for his wife, he declined initial admission and agreed to do a clear liquid diet for a few days. Then when he resumed solids, he experienced similar kind of pain so went back down to the ED and his lipase was only down to 9000. While he was getting IVF and pain medications for his pancreatitis to improve, his LFTs increased.  While in the hospital, he had an ERCP to place a biliary stent. LFTs decreased a little but then increased again once he started eating again. However, my dad was discharged on 4/18/17. 


As an outpatient, my dad's LFTs were still elevated so he had a liver biopsy on 5/12/17. He was told he had some sort of obstruction. Biopsy results didn't confirm the GI doctor's initial suspicion of autoimmune hepatitis. Since he wasn't able to have contrast with initial CT scans, my dad had to wait until after his nephrology appointment to be able to have a CT scan of his abdomen and pelvis on 5/25/17. The CT scan showed dilation of ducts in liver and pancreas as well as fullness in the head of the pancreas with no definite discrete mass. This led to my dad having an endoscopic ultrasound on 6/1/17. In this procedure, a 2.4cm mass was discovered in the head of the pancreas and biopsies were taken. Results of these biopsies showed pancreatic adenocarcinoma.


My dad's GI doctor had already consulted with surgical oncology. Right now, we are waiting for my dad to have that appointment on 6/8/17. Hopefully, my dad will be a candidate for surgery which is the only option for a cure. We will let everyone know updates through this site in the future!! Thank you so much for the outpouring of love, support, and prayers we have received already.