The spiral CT on my dad this morning has shown a very small not so tumor, 3mm 3cm in size in the pancreatic duct. This little bugger is the one causing all the trouble. As before, it is still unknown if it is cancerous in origin until a sample can be taken. We're now in KL and he's been admitted to Gleneagles on Jalan Ampang. The surgeon in charge is now Mr. Mahadevan (sp?) (most surgeons are Mister, not Doctor) who looks like a cross between Rowan Atkinson, M. Night Shyamalan and Ray Romano.

Anyway from his diagnosis, dad is in no condition to have any operations done, due to his jaundice and a fever due to infection. The tumor itself is too small to cause the amount of pain he's having. It is actually caused by distention of the bile and pancreatic ducts. So the plan is to clear out the jaundice first and then work on getting him well enough for the operation.

Tomorrow he will be going for another ERCP, this time under full anaesthesia which is a huge relief for him cos he was pretty traumatized by the last one. They will be putting in a stent to keep the bile duct open and stop the jaundice. Only when everything is A-OK will he start preparing dad for the operation, which is known as the Whipple [jhu.edu] procedure. It's a big and difficult operation which has its own risks.

In any case, I feel he's in good hands now and tonight he's been given painkillers and sedatives to let him sleep, in preparation for tomorrow.