Understanding my pNET while I await my surgery consult
Hey everyone. I'm 45 and I was having some LUQ pain in my abdomen that turned out to be a pNET. It was originally 1.9cm but the CT scan I just had showed it to be 2.4cm by 1.5cm and located in the anterior body of my pancreas and that is "ring-shaped arterial enhancement" in composition. The good news was that my early tests (MRI and EUS) show no lymphadenopathy and the Ki67 shows 1% nuclear staining. So, I'm certainly grateful for the somewhat positive findings so far.
I have another three weeks until my surgery consult. I'm near Portland and have heard great things about OHSU as well so I'm seeking a second referral to them to get two opinions. However, I'm somewhat confused from my research on when a partial pancreatectomy is required versus an enucleation procedure. I'm hoping that I'm a good candidate for enucleation because I would love to keep all of my pancreas if that can be safely done. I'm curious if you guys might impart me your collective wisdom on what I should understand going into my consult about what will decide which surgery type is going to be required.
Too much reading has got me worried about what losing half or more of my pancreas could mean for my long-term health because I have two kids I want to be able to be healthy for. I'm at this place where I can do a lot of research but really have to wait and hope what the doctors say, so any input those of you who have been down this road can share would be super helpful in helping me collect my thoughts and have helpful questions and input when I start meeting with the surgeon(s). Thank you all for banding together to form a community to help each other and people like me. It's been surreal to go in a short month from ignorant bliss to questioning whether I'd be here in the future. It's helped me really appreciate what I have and be grateful for the good news I've received so far, even when the news is objectively less than ideal.