Scott Gillings

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.  Scott first started having some pain in his stomach the beginning of August of 2016.  He didn't think much of it, thought maybe he had eaten something bad.  Then on August 6th, 2016 I noticed that the whites of his eyes were really yellow.  That evening we called the nurse line and described his symptoms (he had a few other things happening as well) and they told us to come to urgent care.  They took blood and did an ultrasound. Then they told us he would need to go to Regions Hospital.  They said he had a blockage in his bile duct. The initial thought was that he had gallstones. He spent the night at Regions while they ran a series of tests and did an MRI.  Instead of gallstones, they told him he had a mass that was blocking his bile duct at the top of his pancreas.  They scheduled a laproscopic ultrasound 5 days later.  During that procedure,  a biopsy was taken of the mass and we were told he had pancreatic cancer. 

Scott is now scheduled for 'Whipple Procedure' surgery  at Regions Hospital on Monday, August 29, 2016.  This is a very aggressive 6-8 hour surgery.  He is expected to remain in the hospital for 8-10 days. After surgery, he will be treated by an oncologist (we are assuming he will need chemo and/or radiation). We are praying that all goes well and are thankful for all of our loving family and friends.