A Sonny Outlook
A retired heavy equipment operator in Michigan, Miller began experiencing abdominal pains in mid-2007. He thought he just had indigestion or a stomachache. However, one night, the pain so intense his wife Brenda had to take him to the local emergency room.
The diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. We were shocked.
My doctors have always said I had real good genes. I’ve never smoked, and I don’t drink. So to be diagnosed with cancer was just devastating news.” Miller’s doctors immediately referred him to a specialist in Grand Rapids, Mich. The specialist could only conclude there was little to be done except “keep an eye on it.” When the cancer got worse, the Grand Rapids surgeons operated but couldn’t remove the tumor because the surgery also involved the superior mesenteric vein, the main vein that drains the entire intestines, pancreas, stomach and spleen. As skilled as they were, they didn’t feel comfortable removing and reconstructing the vein. Ultimately, Miller’s tumor was deemed inoperable and too advanced for surgery. Chemotherapy was recommended as an alternative … to buy Sonny Miller more time with his wife, his grown children and his grandchildren.
Sonny Miller wanted more than time; he wanted to live.
“Luckily, my surgeon also knew of Dr. Singh,” explained Miller. Gagandeep Singh, MD, is the Director of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at Saint John’s Health Center. Three months later, Sonny Miller met with Dr. Singh, who conducted new imaging scans with fine cuts through the pancreas. Based on these new scans “I felt fairly confident I would be able to take the cancer out,” said Dr.Singh, who would use his skills to resection and reconstruct the vein. “There are risks with this type of surgery,” said Dr. Singh. “I explained them all to Mr. Miller, including the possibility that once we began, we might not be able to complete the surgery.”
Sonny Miller decided on the surgery, and on January 12, 2008, a whipple operation with venous reconstruction was successfully performed. “Many surgeons are reluctant to perform these types of surgeries because of the complexity of the surgery, the vascularity and the need to reconstruct the veins and arteries. It’s very challenging, extremely risky and can take a great deal of time,” Dr. Singh explained.
In Miller’s case, the procedure took almost 10 hours, and his hospital stay ended up being only eight days. Miller said that the nurses at Saint John’s treated him with respect and compassion. Once he was moved from recovery into a private room, he was urged to get up and walk as quickly as possible. He remained upbeat and positive, healing quickly, something he credits to his treatment by the hospital personnel, including his surgeon. Each day, Dr. Singh visited his room to personally check on his progress, and after just eight days, Miller was discharged. “They couldn’t have been kinder,” Miller said, “or more attentive to me.
I really believe they were all part of the reason I healed as fast as I did.” For the next 44 days, Miller and his wife settled in with their daughter and her family in Southern California to continue his recovery. After they returned to Michigan he began a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation that made his hands and feet tender, his eyes sensitive to light and his appetite disappear. But when it was over, Sonny Miller felt pretty good, and according to Dr. Singh should be “good for quite some time.”
Sonny Miller explained it this way: “When I had my surgery, Dr. Singh told me everything he was going to do, everything that was going to happen, and then he said, ‘I’m not God,’ he meant we needed a little heavenly assistance. I believe we got it.”
A sunny outlook indeed.
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Sonny Miller’s 2008 resolution was very specific and one he intended to keep: Recover from pancreatic cancer
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