My first patient is a 63-year-old woman named Mary Coughlin. Mrs. Coughlin was admitted to the hospital with a kidney infection, but in the course of her work-up, we have discovered a mass in her pancreas. The mass could be benign—meaning, completely harmless. Or it could be pancreatic cancer, which is Really Bad. Mrs. Coughlin is supposed to be very nice. So it’s probably cancer.
