Hello and Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my website!

I recently completed and published this Book about Living with Pancreas Cancer. If someone near and dear to you has been diagnosed with Pancreas Cancer, I hope you find some helpful information here.

Happy Thoughts,

Kerri Leigh Kinkade

"Work In Progress -

Coming Soon."

- Quiet Lee, Patient

Pancreas Cancer is a devastating diagnosis!

The Fears are huge, the Treatment is taxing,

Your Emotions are stretched to the limit

and Chaos reigns.

Until.. you decide to take back some Control and

Live Your Life!

Suddenly, your life has been turned upside down! You will develop a new perspective on Life. Many things will change! Your relationships with people - Your perspective on coping with day to day irritations - Your priorities. You will need to adjust to new challenges... How to cope with the disease and the treatment. How to deal with your own emotions. Some things will change in a very Good Way! Be open to these possibilities. Rise above the chaos, and find Happy Things to be Thankful for.

This book is about LIVING... with... Pancreas Cancer. We are Pancreas Cancer Patients! We are sharing our personal experiences and opinions to help you wade through the emotions, medical terminology, treatment options and fears that go along with all of it! We have very different experiences. Each person and their situation is unique! This book provides tips about what to expect, what works or doesn't work, and How to Enjoy Life. We hope this will help you and your support teams to cope better, overcome obstacles and nurture realistic and optimistic expectations.

We talk about things that bring JOY to our lives, in stark contrast to the arduous impact of Pancreas Cancer - Our Happy Places. We enJOY doing fun things, eating yummy foods, traveling to delightful places, doing things we put off in the past, reconnecting with friends that we've lost touch with, reveling in nature's beauty, spending time with Loved ones, enjoying old, or new, hobbies, and being helpful to others. Many positive things are possible.

Happy Places enable us to leave the Darkness of Fear behind, and adopt Light-Filled mindsets. They reinvigorate us, giving us the strength we need to Live with and thwart this Cancer. We hope they Inspire you to find your own HAPPY PLACES!

Topics Include

• Choosing Your Healthcare Team

• Balance Treatment with Quality of Life

• Emotional Health • Physical Treatment

• Support • Caregiving • Food • Pain

• Side Effects • Coping • Happy Places

plus Resource Info on support groups,

discussion boards, doctors, books and more!

WTF ImPatient Excerpts

Balance: It was unacceptable to have a treatment plan during which I was always ‘down’. Sometimes, I stretched out my 2-week chemo cycles, to make room for a week-long getaway. Doing something fun always energized me, and made life worth living. It can’t be all Cancer all the time!

Whipple Surgery: The pain was strangely comforting. It meant that the cancer was removed!

Peer Support Group: Invaluable! Share your experiences and learn from others You are not alone. They understand!

There’s a choice we have about how to live.

I’ve chosen JOY!

Self-Advocate: Adjustments in chemo dosage, frequency and medications can be made. Identify problems, share side effects and symptoms, and advocate for changes in the treatment when needed.

Ask Questions! Any unusual symptoms should be pursued aggressively.

Food: Frequent, sudden changes in taste preferences are normal. Many smells cause adverse reactions. Takeout is not a solution since much of that is spiced, salted, or sweetened.

FUN! Setting a specific fun-filled

goal *travel* has helped me get

through the hardest parts of this journey.

Thankful: to be alive and thankful for the pain that enabled this cancer to be found early and entirely removed.

Clinical Trials: versus going with standard treatment (more chemo) has given me a sense of control over my treatment options.

Listen to what your body is telling you! Heed the warnings, and take appropriate action. It gave me warning signs before, which led me to seek medical care and a diagnosis of Stage 2 Pancreas Cancer.

I felt very fortunate to be diagnosed ‘early’.

Think of Chemo as

life saving medicine rather than as a toxin

Fatigue: I’ve learned to just do what I can and let the rest be. Be kind to yourself and put aside expectations. Ask for help with things like mowing the yard and taking out the garbage.

Neuropathy: Sensitivity to cold is temporary and quite common.

Pain: Marijuana was the ONLY thing that reduced my pain and allowed me to eat.

Emotional Outlook: may be more important than the physical treatment plan. It can make all the difference between hope and despair. The POWER of a positive determined attitude can be exceptional!

Caregiving: is an emotional roller coaster. Maintaining composure and strength is the opposite of what you’re feeling. Hope is always present!

Balance: I refuse to let cancer rule

my life. I’m not in denial. I know it can return, but I want to live each day as best I can. I love not having to worry about chemo, for now.

Complementary Treatments: can help - massage therapy (particularly for neuropathy), physical therapy, exercise like yoga or tai chi, nutritional advice, acupuncuture, and mental therapy.

I was diagnosed with Pancreas Cancer in 2021. Fortunate to be diagnosed early, my treatment included successful major surgery (the Whipple procedure) and chemotherapy. I joined an outstanding Pancreas Cancer Support Group at Yale. These amazing people share their experiences, wisdom and emotions and provide tremendous emotional support, encouragement, empathy, and friendship as we all Live with Pancreas Cancer.

I have been Cancer-Free for the last 2 years, with no active cancer treatment.

I grew up in Massachusetts, earning a Business degree at the University of Massachusetts, focusing on Finance and the 2 courses offered in the fledgling computer field.

I've spent my adult life in Connecticut - now retired after a career in Information Technology, including system support, development, corporate training and management. I worked for a mainframe computer vendor, a bank, a utility, a hospital and a college. I loved working in this field, learning new technologies, and using my creative skills to develop new systems and solve problems.

I enjoy a variety of interests. Sports, as a spectator watching wrestling, softball, and loving the Boston sports scene! Outdoors, I enjoy light river rafting-tubing, kayaking, and soaking in the beautiful scenery, waterfalls and beaches in New England and our National Parks. Other fun things I like: music, live theater, puzzles, reading, and travel.

I've never written a Book before, and never expected to. But who knows where life will take you. Working with some of my Pancreas Cancer friends, we created this Book:

Living Your Life with Pancreas Cancer

It's a collection of our experiences and thoughts on living with this formidable disease. We hope that sharing these perspectives can provide a sense of optimistic hope, what to expect, how to cope, and most of all...

How to

Live with Pancreas Cancer!

On Amazon

amazon.com/author/klkinkade

On BookBaby

store.bookbaby.com/book/lylwpc

Smilow Cancer Hospital/Yale New Haven Hospital

Pancreas Cancer Support Group

When: Weekly on Mondays 1:30 – 2:30 pm EST via Zoom

Contact: Yale Support Services 203-688-2915

Call for Zoom meeting link

This group welcomes Pancreas Cancer patients and their families, from local and non-local areas. Here, you will find a warm comfortable place to listen to the experiences of others, to share your experiences when you are comfortable doing so, to ask questions, to express your feelings and your fears, to cry, to laugh, to be kind to yourself and to be helpful to others.