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CAPT PAUL


Let's see where do I start, 2/2002 my dad then 61 yrs old started to have weight loss and uncontrolled blood sugars, with lower back pain, I went to the doctor's with him on Valentine's day and it was confirmed that he had pancreatic cancer with possible mets to the lung. We were shocked as dad has always been healthy and active. We started at sloan kettering where they told us that he had 2-3 months at best and that we should consider palliative care only. I was shocked and riding that train back to New Jersey we were all speechless. My dad is my best friend and I wasn't giving up. He had the tumor covering his superior mesenteric artery, but we kept going. Landed in John Hopkins where they told us that they could help us if we could get the tumor to shrink off the artery, although there was little chance of this. We decided since we got two totally different opinions that we would go for one more, we ended up with Dr. Hoffman at Fox Chase in Philadelphia. He agreed with the possibility of the whipple if the tumor shrunk, and that is where we began. Dad underwent chemo and radiation until May 2002 the tumor had completely shrunk away from the artery. He quickly underwent the Whipple at Fox Chase, without any complications and was out of the hospital in 6 days. Dad recovered wondefully traveling the country in his motor home with Mom and my children, stayed on Chemo until 12/03 his markers were normal and his every 3 month scans were clear, any spot that was on his lung they were unable to find anymore. Dad went this entire year off of chemo continued to have his scans every 3 months, he had a hernia repair 11/04 at fox chase again without any incident. 1;/24/04 Dad showed a spot on his liver during a routine scan, he underwent a biopsy that was positive,we are all devatated and scared but the doctor said it was very slow moving and hopefully the Gemzar that worked before would work again. Our initial consultation in Sloan was devastating but with perserverance we have had dad for 3 yrs already and are not ready to give up yet! He is nervous about starting chemo again but is such an amazing man, fighting this beast with everything he has. 12/04

Posted 12/26/2004 01:37 pm by JR
E-mail Address: JJens4@aol.com

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