Looking for metastases

They looked and looked and looked ( lung biopsy, PET scan, diagnostic laparoscopy to examine pancreas and its neighbors) and did not find any metastases!

That's very good news, because it means that I can have surgery  to remove the pancreatic mass and rearrange my innards. That's done with a major operation called the Whipple Procedure.  I'll have that operation on June 1 at Stanford Hospital. I expect to be 'on the table' for about four hours, in the hospital for a week or more, and recovering from this major trauma to my body for several months. If you want to know more about the procedure, click here and here.