Scott's Journey

Hello,

My name is Scott. This is all new territory for Kathy and I. We have never asked for help like this before. Kathy is my wife, my best friend, and the love of my life. We have been married for 33 years come this August. I have two boys from a previous marriage. Brandon the oldest. He is married with 2 children. He’s a good boy. Matthew is the youngest

I am 62 years old. As you can see from the cover photo, I have a weight issue. Even though I have been overweight most of my life, I am very active. I love being in the outdoors, hunting and fishing. I love to make things. Wood, metal or whatever else.

About 7 years ago I became diabetic. I have struggled since the diagnosis with keeping my A1C in check. A year ago, at 360 lbs I decided to go Keto. I needed to lose weight and get my blood sugars under control. I have always eaten healthy, but High carb, low fat, like we were told by the medical community. After going low carb, in only 6 months, I had lost 50 lbs! and I felt great!

Now its August 2023. I woke up one night with a severe pain in my left side. I went in to the Dr's office the following day. He suggested a CT scan to check for a possible Kidney stone. I received the results through my medical app. It showed positive for a Kidney stone. It was a 5mm Stone that was logged in my urinary tract. As I am reading the report from the radiologist, he wrote he noticed there was something suspicious on my Pancreas. While I was reading the report, my kidney Dr. called and asked if I was reading the report that just came out. I could tell the urgency in his voice that he was concerned. He wanted me to have a scan on my Pancreas right away to see what was suspicious. Of course, at this point Kathy and I have all kinds of things running through our heads of what it could be.

I could not get the scan for 2 weeks due to scheduling. So, it was waiting, wondering and worrying. During the waiting, I still had to deal with this Kidney stone. The Dr. had put a stent in my urinary tract. It was in during the 2 weeks I waited for the Pancreas scan. After 2 weeks it was removed so they could remove the stone. After the stone was removed, they put another stent in for 2 more weeks. I could not work at all during this time. I had to stay pretty still, or there would be pain in my Kidney, and I would have blood when I urinated.

Finally, after 2 weeks the Pancreas scan was preformed and results came back, I have a 4.2 x 3.7mm mass on the Pancreas. The mass is engulfing my Splenetic vein and Artery. My oncologist and surgeon said it is stage 3 Pancreatic cancer. By the grace of God, after a PET scan, it was determined that the cancer has not spread.

Since then, I have lost another 40 lbs. The surgeon wants me to lose another 70lbs before the surgery. I’M TRYING! I just finished 12 rounds of chemo infusions. They are every other week. I would spend 8 hours the first day at the clinic getting multiple infusions. At the end of the day, they would send me home with a bag that had a pump and an IV of chemo medication. I had to wear that for 2 more days. So far, all indicators show the chemo is helping. I am now done with the chemo infusions, so I have been on a break to recover from its effects. I will start radiation/chemo in a few days. The radiation/chemo last 5 weeks, and then a break again before they decide on surgery. If they can do the surgery, I will lose most of my Pancreas, my spleen, many veins and arteries going to the Pancreas and spleen. In my last PET scan, my surgeon showed concern for my stomach. Out of the 4 blood supplies that go to the stomach, I need to have 3 removed because they are compromised. The stomach can live fine with only one blood flow, but if it is compromised at all, the stomach will have to be removed. That is the latest medical info at this time,

When we received the diagnosis, we and the doctors decided it was best if I take a year off of work to deal with this. Between appointments and procedures and terrible side effects of the chemo, there is just no way I can work. Right from the beginning, my works short-term disability was great. It was only at 60% pay after a few weeks, but I did not have to deal with anything but getting better. It felt good to know my work was behind me in this journey. Now, in the beginning of February my short-term disability ended, that’s when everything changed. I just found out it is common practice that when an employee goes on long term disability, they are released from their company. They say it is because now I am being paid (only 60% of my regular pay) by the LTD company and they said only a few % of people return to work after going on LTD. That means I have lost all my benefits. No more matching 401K, no more life insurance or any other benefit I chose. They never tell you this when you get hired.

It has been 7 months since this all started. Although the medical bills took a while to start coming in, when they did, they just keep coming. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Scott and Kathy Kittleson