Purple Hope RibbonThis blog has been quiet for far too long. It is the year 2020 and I’ve not had much to say since a few years. I wish I could say that I am well and in good health for the year 2020… but 2019 has left me weakened, recovering from an awful respiratory infection… waiting to start full chemo (they won’t start it up while I have an infection). I have sat here for the first 8 days and just wondered what this year is going to bring.

I know that each new decade brings radically new changes in life… but this is one unwanted change that I am left holding the bag to deal with. It started about three months ago when I went to the doctor because I had a lump in my testicle once more and I was passing blood in my urine. Turns out that the doctor wanted to do a CT scan to look for kidney stones since I am highly allergic to shrimp and the Xray contrast would be an allergen for me. I go to the hospital to get my scanned the technician in training scanned to high. Instead of finding kidneys they scanned my pancreas and found two tumors on it.

I guess it was meant to be since they found it early enough that they can do something. I’m waiting to start a really rough Chemotherapy drug called Affinitor. It is hellaciously expensive… it cost $37,000 just for one month’s worth of it. The tumors are producing the antidote to insulin… called Glucagon that totally has complicated my diabetes. This totally explains why I am using so much insulin.

I am hoping that the Chemo will get it… the next step is removal of the pancreas and spleen which is a very radical surgery. I already have to take a pill called CREON because my body was not absorbing anything from my food but fat. This is the definition of CREON…

CREON (pancrelipase) is a prescription medicine used to treat people who cannot digest food normally because their pancreas does not make enough enzymes. This condition is called exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) and may be due to cystic fibrosis, swelling of the pancreas that lasts a long time (chronic pancreatitis), removal of some or all of the pancreas (pancreatectomy), or other conditions.

I have had chronic pancreatitis on and off which explains the nausea and weakness I have had. If I could only shake the bronchitis I would say I am feeling lots better.

Anyhow I hope to post better news. I see my oncologist towards the end of the month and my Endocrinologist on the 17th. We will have to wait and see what more tests will bring after that.

In the interim, please pray for me… I will have a journey ahead of me.