Half a pancreas

[rachelha]

Hello

My Dad had a major operation last week for stomach cancer. He is doing pretty well, and they think they got rid of all the tumor. However amongst other things they had to remove half of his pancreas. Apparently the half that is left is the part that produces most of the insulin so he is not automatically going to become diabetic. I was just wondering if anyone on here had come across this, or knew the affects of losing half your pancreas.

 

[Northerner]

Hi Rachel, sorry to hear of your Dad's surgery but good to hear he has come through it well 🙂 We have a fe members who have had their pancreas removed, but not sure about what happens when the removal is partial. The pancreas is responsible for digestive enzymes too, so perhaps he will need medication for this (Creon, I believe). I remember Adrienne's daughter had most of her pancreas removed, but the remaining portion can cause problems with her diabetes because it still keeps producing insulin - hopefully your Dad will be more consistent.

 

[margie]

Sorry to hear about your Dad Rachel.

There is a wiki entry on the pancreas which explains all its functions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreas

Hope your Dad gets good treatment and makes a full recovery.