It was the first day of November, a sunny day, when the second “Let’s overcome pancreatic diseases together” Pancreatic Disease Concern Group Meeting was held in the Pancreatic Center. Unlike the first meeting where most patients are those who suffer from pancreatitis, most patients who attended the second meeting were patients who received pancreatic tumor surgery.
A free-of-charge blood test was arranged for postoperatives. The staff of the Pancreatic Center arrived at the conference room and prepared for the coming blood test around six o’ clock. After the test in the morning, Miao Yi, the director of the Center delivered a speech and announced the official opening of the meeting. Diseases are our common enemies, said Miao, and we hope to join hands to fight against illness under the shelter of our Concern Group. Moreover, he also extended his sincere greetings to all attendees who were used to be patients and wished them an early recovery.
Doctor Cai Baobao delivered a speech named “Pancreatic Tumors, Our Common Enemies” and explained some basic knowledge about pancreatic tumor. He elaborated the working mechanism of the pancreas with simple concepts such as “Xinjiekou” and “Sinopec Yangzi Petro”, and then informed them about some unhealthy living habits that may easily lead to pancreatic tumors such as smoking, drinking, and overeating, all of which are inducing factors. Cai pointed out that the early symptoms of pancreatic tumors are insignificant, and there are three kinds of symptoms that are relatively obvious: (1) anorexia, dyspepsia and loss of weight; (2) abdominal discomfort or pain, and nearly half of the patients may experience abdominal pain first, and nearly 20% patients may experience their abdominal pain spreading to their back, left shoulder. The pain intensifies when the patient lies on his or her back, while sitting up, bending over, lying on the side, and bending knees may alleviate the pain; (3) jaundice, manifested as yellow skin and yellow sclera. Previous symptoms may appear in case of hepatitis or biliary tract diseases, so pancreatic tumors in early stages can be easily mistaken as hepatitis, cholecystitis. Being difficult to be discovered, only 10% - 25% clinically diagnosed pancreatic tumor patients may receive surgical treatment and the recovery rate has been low. Hence early diagnosis is extremely important.
In addition to follow-up treatment, patients who received pancreatic tumor surgery are particularly interested in dietary cautions too. Doctor Zhao Ting from the Nutriology Department explained certain dietary common knowledge for patients who received pancreatic tumor surgery. Diets should be reasonably collocated, she said, the proportions of carbohydrate, fat and protein are important and the proportion of carbohydrate should dominate while the amount of fat and protein should be appropriate. Protein sources that are easily digestible are preferred such as lean meat, eggs and fish. Diets should be reasonably cooked such as boiling, stewing, steaming instead of frying or stir-frying to avoid excessive pancreatic secretion.
We also arranged experts of the Pancreatic Center during the break to answer questions of patients during which all patients were eager to propose their questions.
It is important for all of us to pay attention on all kinds of unimpressive symptoms since pancreatic tumors are difficult to be discovered in early stages. Please visit hospital in case of any early symptom described such as anorexia, dyspepsia, loss of weight, abdominal discomfort or pain and jaundice so that the diseases can be treated as early as possible. We sincerely hope that with the meeting of the Pancreatic Patient Concern Group, more health information can be spread to guide more pancreatic disease patients to focus on their conditions and enjoy convenient medical services, as well as more effective interactions and communications between medical staff and pancreatic disease patients.
