Earlier in 2024 I said to myself, “Hey, You, you haven’t put anything on that blog in a long time, maybe it’s time to just archive it and turn it off.” And then that bastard Cancer came a-calling to our household again. So, damn it, here I am re-opening this space as a central point of communication.

In February,  Kathy was having some pain in her abdomen that she thought was a pulled muscle. It didn’t heal and continued in a way that indicated it might be a gallbladder issue. Before we could get to an appointment with the GI doc, she had a very small fever one night. That was February 27th. The date that would have been my Dad’s 83rd birthday, and just 1 week after we returned from an amazing week in Arizona where we had played golf, pickleball, bocci ball, laughed, walked, and relaxed with great friends.

The fever was our inspiration to just go to the ER. Maybe we’d learn something there and get that gallbladder removed. At the ER Kathy patiently underwent a number of scans. The scans indicated wasn’t the gallbladder but, rather, some tumors on a few organs and a couple of blood clots in her right lung.

During a short stay at the hospital and a biopsy, the medical team diagnosed advanced Pancreatic Cancer. She had 1 small tumor on the tail of the pancreas that is the primary cancer. It had already metastasized with 1 small tumor in her right lung and several in her liver.

You may already know that there is no cure for Pancreatic Cancer, but there are treatments that can sometimes fight it. Kathy initially opted to:

1. Go on a planned camping trip with family, and

2. Get a port and start an aggressive chemotherapy after returning.

We left for the camping trip on a Friday afternoon. Our on-time departure was possible in large part because of the generosity of friends who helped us get all the camping supplies that had been stored away for Winter back into the trailer. Kathy wasn’t feeling some fatigue as we prepared to go. We were nearby in our favorite camping spot enjoying warming weather and a lot of sunshine.

Unfortunately, Kathy’s energy was deteriorating each day and she had constant pain (about a 4, but all the time) that we couldn’t ease on our own, so just to check, we went to the ER in Mountain Home (for those not of Idaho, that’s about 45 miles outside of Boise and home to Mountain Home Air Force Base). That was Monday (Mar 18). We were worried she was dehydrated or possibly anemic. We were wrong again. In Mountain Home we learned that in the 3 weeks since the initial scan, the tumors in her liver had “progressed significantly.” They transferred her to the hospital in Boise.

The Boise hospital stay was overwhelming. First, and most importantly, they were able to ease the pain Kathy was having. With the pain gone and a couple of liters of saline pumped in, she perked up a bit and started eating more. Did I not mention I was a nag about food for the previous days?? 😉 The rest of the visit was a cycle of receiving information, trying to make decisions, frustration that all the choices sucked, learning to ask new and more pointed questions, get MORE information, and continuing to hate all the choices.

I’m ending this here. This is sort of the “background” post or primer to what is happening. The next entry to bring you up to date further. And, I plan to continue updating here.

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