A Fight Against Pancreatic Cancer
Donation protected
It is with a sad and heavy heart for me to tell you that my husband David has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On June 4th during a cat scan to look for diverticulitis a four inch tumor was seen on his pancreas. David was set up to work with a team of physicians that work together on pancreatic cancer. There are multiple physicians in several field of medicine that are working on David’s case. A biopsy was performed and the pathology came back as inconclusive as to whether or not the tumor was cancer. It was decided that the tumor and most of David’s pancreas and spleen should be removed. David had a hard time after surgery and a three to four day stay in the hospital turned out to be ten days. At the end of David’s stay in the hospital the pathology came back and it was determined David did have pancreatic cancer stage 1 grade 3 cells but all of the cancer was removed. Grade 3 cells mean as we were explained are “ugly” cells that are shaped liked stars with tentacles.
Due to him having grade 3 cells the group of physicians decided David should have chemo and radiation for six months to be proactive to keep any cancer from returning. During the surgery a drain was attached to the pancreas and is coming out of his left side by his ribs with a bulb that catches all the amylase fluid. This drain poses a problem. All of us have amylase in our bodies but a normal level is 100 or below. When David left the hospital his level was 6,000. It is normal for someone to wear this drain for a few weeks while the body heals it’s self and when the amylase is at a safe level it can be removed and chemo can start. You have to wait about six weeks after surgery to heal before chemo can start anyone so we though we had at least six week for David’s amylase levels to go down so the drain could be removed and chemo started. The oncologist and surgeon do not like to start chemo with the drain in due to the body heals much slower when you are on chemo and you take the risk of infection. The amylase level is checked once every week to see what the new numbers are. David’s first week home from the hospital his level shot up to 9,000 not what we were looking for!
The oncologist said after six week that David needed to start chemo as soon as possible because it was guaranteed the cancer would come back in a matter of two months. Pancreatic cancer likes to travel to the liver and lungs. David had a cat scan done after surgery and a small nodule was found in his lungs. At this time the oncologist is just going to watch if it grows or changes before we start being concerned with it. We had the amylase level check the second week home and his level had fallen to 6,000.
All of this time the group of physicians has told David he is “the boss” over his care. They will educate him and our family on a monthly basis to give their opinion of what should be done but he makes the final decision on how things continue. David agreed chemo should be done to be proactively to keep any cancer from returning but without a determined effected area to treat with radiation, he did not want radiation at this time. So, a plan was put in place to put a port in his chest for chemo treatment and a date was set to start chemo. All of this hoping the drain would be coming out by the time chemo was going to start.
David and I went in for his post op visits to get his stitches out you know just a quick in and out appointment and we were hit with some bad news. The group of specialist had decided in their weekly meeting that all of the cancer was not removed during surgery after all. How did this happen, what made them change their minds? Was he still a stage 1 cancer patient or now is he at stage 2 or 3? All of these questions could not be answered at this time. This news was so new to the group of specialist that a new pathology report had not even been dictated or transcribed. All they could tell us was the surgeon had to decide if there were enough pancreases left to go back in and removed more hoping to get all the cancer that had been left behind or would we have to change the whole treatment plan for David. We were told to forget everything that had been discussed before by the oncologist until a new plan of attack was made.
If another surgery has to be performed he would need a drain for that surgery also. We can’t get rid of the current drain and we don’t have more time to wait this is a ticking time bomb waiting for more cancer or I guess now the remaining cancer to move to his other organs.
Over the weekend David and I decided since this drain is hanging around and doesn’t seem to be leaving any time soon it should have a name. So, David being the positive and joking person he is named it “the Devil” I thought that was an appropriate name.
As I said David has a positive attitude that he is going to treat this cancer and heal and move on with his life. Per the statistics the recovery rate from pancreatic cancer is not high but a small group of people do recover. So, why not him is our attitude as a family. The kids and I have told him we know it is going to get worse before it gets better going through chemo and radiation but on the days he is sick and weak we will “carry him” until he can stand on his own again. Our oldest son Jarred has decided to move back home to take care of his dad during the time I have to go to work.
I am setting up this Go Fund Me account to assist David and our family with the medical expenses we are going to incur for his treatment. We already have a ten day stay in the hospital, cat scans each month for follow up with progression of treatment, a handful of prescriptions on a monthly basis during treatment do help with nausea, and anxiety, multiple cases a month of protein drinks to compliment his diet for extra protein, chemo and radiation cost, gas to and from the cancer center daily for treatment, and to supplement loss of income while he and our family are off work for daily care and time spent at the cancer center during treatment. Our family has set a goal to raise $60,000. Any monies left in the Go Fund Me account after David has been cleared of cancer and the bills have be paid will be donated to the Lustgarten Foundation that works toward advancing scientific and medical research related to pancreatic cancer.
Please keep David in your prayers and our family thanks you for your support. Please feel free to share our story to help us reach our goal, and hopefully be able to donate back to the prevention and treatment of pancreatic research.
Due to him having grade 3 cells the group of physicians decided David should have chemo and radiation for six months to be proactive to keep any cancer from returning. During the surgery a drain was attached to the pancreas and is coming out of his left side by his ribs with a bulb that catches all the amylase fluid. This drain poses a problem. All of us have amylase in our bodies but a normal level is 100 or below. When David left the hospital his level was 6,000. It is normal for someone to wear this drain for a few weeks while the body heals it’s self and when the amylase is at a safe level it can be removed and chemo can start. You have to wait about six weeks after surgery to heal before chemo can start anyone so we though we had at least six week for David’s amylase levels to go down so the drain could be removed and chemo started. The oncologist and surgeon do not like to start chemo with the drain in due to the body heals much slower when you are on chemo and you take the risk of infection. The amylase level is checked once every week to see what the new numbers are. David’s first week home from the hospital his level shot up to 9,000 not what we were looking for!
The oncologist said after six week that David needed to start chemo as soon as possible because it was guaranteed the cancer would come back in a matter of two months. Pancreatic cancer likes to travel to the liver and lungs. David had a cat scan done after surgery and a small nodule was found in his lungs. At this time the oncologist is just going to watch if it grows or changes before we start being concerned with it. We had the amylase level check the second week home and his level had fallen to 6,000.
All of this time the group of physicians has told David he is “the boss” over his care. They will educate him and our family on a monthly basis to give their opinion of what should be done but he makes the final decision on how things continue. David agreed chemo should be done to be proactively to keep any cancer from returning but without a determined effected area to treat with radiation, he did not want radiation at this time. So, a plan was put in place to put a port in his chest for chemo treatment and a date was set to start chemo. All of this hoping the drain would be coming out by the time chemo was going to start.
David and I went in for his post op visits to get his stitches out you know just a quick in and out appointment and we were hit with some bad news. The group of specialist had decided in their weekly meeting that all of the cancer was not removed during surgery after all. How did this happen, what made them change their minds? Was he still a stage 1 cancer patient or now is he at stage 2 or 3? All of these questions could not be answered at this time. This news was so new to the group of specialist that a new pathology report had not even been dictated or transcribed. All they could tell us was the surgeon had to decide if there were enough pancreases left to go back in and removed more hoping to get all the cancer that had been left behind or would we have to change the whole treatment plan for David. We were told to forget everything that had been discussed before by the oncologist until a new plan of attack was made.
If another surgery has to be performed he would need a drain for that surgery also. We can’t get rid of the current drain and we don’t have more time to wait this is a ticking time bomb waiting for more cancer or I guess now the remaining cancer to move to his other organs.
Over the weekend David and I decided since this drain is hanging around and doesn’t seem to be leaving any time soon it should have a name. So, David being the positive and joking person he is named it “the Devil” I thought that was an appropriate name.
As I said David has a positive attitude that he is going to treat this cancer and heal and move on with his life. Per the statistics the recovery rate from pancreatic cancer is not high but a small group of people do recover. So, why not him is our attitude as a family. The kids and I have told him we know it is going to get worse before it gets better going through chemo and radiation but on the days he is sick and weak we will “carry him” until he can stand on his own again. Our oldest son Jarred has decided to move back home to take care of his dad during the time I have to go to work.
I am setting up this Go Fund Me account to assist David and our family with the medical expenses we are going to incur for his treatment. We already have a ten day stay in the hospital, cat scans each month for follow up with progression of treatment, a handful of prescriptions on a monthly basis during treatment do help with nausea, and anxiety, multiple cases a month of protein drinks to compliment his diet for extra protein, chemo and radiation cost, gas to and from the cancer center daily for treatment, and to supplement loss of income while he and our family are off work for daily care and time spent at the cancer center during treatment. Our family has set a goal to raise $60,000. Any monies left in the Go Fund Me account after David has been cleared of cancer and the bills have be paid will be donated to the Lustgarten Foundation that works toward advancing scientific and medical research related to pancreatic cancer.
Please keep David in your prayers and our family thanks you for your support. Please feel free to share our story to help us reach our goal, and hopefully be able to donate back to the prevention and treatment of pancreatic research.
Organizer
Pamela Walker-Elliott
Organizer
Kansas City, MO