Greenberg: Reflections and Hope, from a Pancreatic Cancer Survivor

Surprise turned to disbelief, then outright fear. It was November of 2019, when radiologists spotted, and a subsequent endoscopy confirmed, that I had pancreatic cancer.

My primary physician gave me the diagnosis: a tumor had been spotted on the tail of my pancreas. Good news, however, because cancerous growths in that organ’s tail are easier to address than those in the pancreas’ head. More encouraging news was the tumor was small, relatively, and therefore designated Stage 1(b).  It had not infiltrated deep into tissue  nor spread elsewhere. My doctor gave me a hug, to comfort me – as I was clearly in shock. From that day forward, I would be termed a “survivor”, as I was still alive, my fight would commence.

Thanks to being previously treated for an unrelated condition in the UCSF hospital system, I was immediately able to be seen by a team of the best specialists armed with the latest protocols at the state-of-the-art facility at the Mission Bay oncology center in San Francisco. The 4^th floor of the building was about to become my second home throughout most of the upcoming year.

The plan was to begin chemotherapy the first week of February 2020, with an intense, day-long chemo session of a cocktail of steroids, anti-nausea, anti-diarrhea solutions, part of a 48 hour protocol known as Folfirinox, powerful chemo drugs to fight the tumor, stop its growth, and aimed to shrink it so surgery to excise the tumor may be facilitated some four months later. I would, according to the plan presented to me, be facing treatments until the end of September of that year. Though I was at Stage 1{b}, my oncology team went with an aggressive chemo regimen to ensure the best outcome.

What made this cancer diagnosis so surprising is that I exhibited no symptoms. There are numerous tell-tale signs such as pain, weight loss, fatigue, jaundice, digestive issues and loss of appetite. I had none of these. In fact, the tumor was discovered purely coincidentally, when my doctors did an abdominal scan looking to confirm an entirely different issue. Yes, they were pleased at the results of the other treatment, then shocked to see to the tumor which became evident mere inches away, in another organ, the pancreas. Without that coincidental discovery, we cannot guess how far along that tumor could have grown before symptoms appeared, and how diminished the successful treatability would be.

After completing a very grueling program of chemotherapy and surgery through most of 2020, my cancer marker (a specific blood test for pancreas tumor secretion level) was at or near zero, after beginning at a reading of over 1,000 prior to my treatment start.

That November of 2020 I was interviewed on San Francisco’s KTVU, by news anchor Mike Mibach who lost his father to pancreatic cancer. I appeared puffy-faced on TV due to remnants of chemo and steroids still in my system, but clearly, I was overjoyed at the treatment’s success.

There are calls in Congress to continue to increase funding for Pancreatic Cancer treatment protocols, clinical trials, and screening for at-risk people. I wholly support this – and this month (and every month) of November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. Today, Thursday November 21^st is World Pancreatic Cancer Day.

The number of Americans diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer is rising, now about 67,000 annually. It remains among the most dangerous of cancers, with lowest survival rate of major cancers, a disease in desperate need of research and wider treatment availability.

The current 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only 9% . I myself am among those extremely lucky ones. I count my blessings every day, reminded of the fact a recurrence of this disease can occur at any time. Yet, being given a new lease on life, I’ve been emboldened to fight for just causes, and my focus has been politics as you all know. I’m a fighter on many levels, and plan to be around for a very long time.

For more information, several national organizations work to lobby Congress for research dollars, and to provide education to the public on Pancreatic cancer’s signs and symptoms and working on early detection and treatments. More insight is available at: Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Let’s Win Pancreatic Cancer , Lustegarten Foundation, and World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition.