Donativo protegido
We all have a story, here’s ours:
April 2016: Right after planning our first real vacation in a decade, my husband Dave turned yellow. Diagnosis: pancreatic cancer. Bam! It seemed as quick as that, the sudden and numerous hurried doctor appointments, tests, x-rays, and biopsies. He got himself an Oncologist, an Endocrinologist a Radiologist, a Gastroenterologist and a few others in-between that I can’t remember now. After meeting his eventual surgeon for the first time I remember asking him if we needed to cancel our trip and he said to us “I think you’re about to embark on a different kind of journey from here on out”. Right he was!
So far, Dave’s journey has included 5 rounds of heavy chemotherapy, a round of radiation w/chemo, massive surgery and now he is undergoing 8 more rounds of the same heavy chemo. While his surgery was a success, it had devastating forever life changing consequences. They removed his spleen, a third of his stomach, some intestine, a bile duct and they wound up having to take his entire pancreas. Nine days later and 20 pounds lighter, he’s sent home with a plastic baggie full of pills and needles. The good news was that all of his post-surgery pathology came back clean and cancer free! Yay! The bad news was that since they had to take his entire pancreas, he can no longer produce insulin or digest food like a normal person again… ever. Dave’s now a Type 1 insulin diabetic. He has to test his blood multiple times a day, inject himself with insulin before every meal even small snacks and again before bedtime. We had no idea what he was in for. Amazingly it was never discussed what the consequences could be if he had to have his whole pancreas removed. It’s been no small learning curve! Along with that, he now has to take multiple enzyme pills called Zenpep in varying dosages with every meal he eats. These pills aid in digestion because without a pancreas, he can’t actually absorb any nutrients from what he eats. He can’t live without them, and if he doesn’t have those enzyme pills he could basically eat 3 square meals a day and slowly starve to death! He’ll probably always have some lasting digestion problems and discomfort accompanying eating. He’s susceptible to infection and certain illnesses that require immunizations due to him not having a spleen anymore too. I’m sure many of you know how expensive a disease diabetes is to live with and control, but it’s nothing compared to the cost of the enzyme pills. A 30-day supply is over $1200.00! Before he was released from the hospital we found out that his current health insurance didn’t cover the insulin pens he now needs to live, so we had a mad scramble to find new insurance that would cover it. Anyone who’s ever been self- employed and self- insured knows how expensive it can be and now his new policy is more than we can truly afford. It covers less but we cannot afford to not have it. We’re doing everything we can to stay afloat. Dave isn’t eligible for any SSI disability benefits as he’s been self- employed his entire working life and hasn’t paid in enough. I work full time, and my work has been amazingly supportive of us through everything, but Dave’s always been the primary bread winner. We know we can recover when Dave can get back to work, but the struggle is getting greater as time goes on.
We’re thankful and grateful that through modern medicine his life has been saved and prolonged and we know there’s light at the end of this tunnel! My husband is a good, hard working man. He’s made our house a beautiful home over the years. Worked his ass off out in the elements his whole life making other people’s homes better too and he hopes to get back to work in the near future. He’s been off work since last spring, and was hoping to get back to work after he healed from his surgery. Unfortunately, now that he has to do more chemotherapy he simply can’t get back to work yet. His chemo treatments are too debilitating for him to work in any kind of normal capacity or schedule. Chemo is bad enough, but it’s even more complicated now with trying to manage his diabetes and digestion issues. Let’s just say he’s accumulated a few more doctors, LOL! He has his good days and bad days. On his good days he loves to cook and he really wants to get back to working as soon as he can! We know we can get there if we can get through this part. It’s hard to ask for help. It must have been just as hard for our friends to reach out and ask if we needed it, but we do! I can’t tell you how touched and thankful we are to them for doing so! It was their thoughtfulness and inspiration to help us with this and they have shown us that sometimes people really do just want to help in any way they’re able. We appreciate any help, past present and future! It will be paid forward! So that’s our story! Thank you!
Laura Jenks
April 2016: Right after planning our first real vacation in a decade, my husband Dave turned yellow. Diagnosis: pancreatic cancer. Bam! It seemed as quick as that, the sudden and numerous hurried doctor appointments, tests, x-rays, and biopsies. He got himself an Oncologist, an Endocrinologist a Radiologist, a Gastroenterologist and a few others in-between that I can’t remember now. After meeting his eventual surgeon for the first time I remember asking him if we needed to cancel our trip and he said to us “I think you’re about to embark on a different kind of journey from here on out”. Right he was!
So far, Dave’s journey has included 5 rounds of heavy chemotherapy, a round of radiation w/chemo, massive surgery and now he is undergoing 8 more rounds of the same heavy chemo. While his surgery was a success, it had devastating forever life changing consequences. They removed his spleen, a third of his stomach, some intestine, a bile duct and they wound up having to take his entire pancreas. Nine days later and 20 pounds lighter, he’s sent home with a plastic baggie full of pills and needles. The good news was that all of his post-surgery pathology came back clean and cancer free! Yay! The bad news was that since they had to take his entire pancreas, he can no longer produce insulin or digest food like a normal person again… ever. Dave’s now a Type 1 insulin diabetic. He has to test his blood multiple times a day, inject himself with insulin before every meal even small snacks and again before bedtime. We had no idea what he was in for. Amazingly it was never discussed what the consequences could be if he had to have his whole pancreas removed. It’s been no small learning curve! Along with that, he now has to take multiple enzyme pills called Zenpep in varying dosages with every meal he eats. These pills aid in digestion because without a pancreas, he can’t actually absorb any nutrients from what he eats. He can’t live without them, and if he doesn’t have those enzyme pills he could basically eat 3 square meals a day and slowly starve to death! He’ll probably always have some lasting digestion problems and discomfort accompanying eating. He’s susceptible to infection and certain illnesses that require immunizations due to him not having a spleen anymore too. I’m sure many of you know how expensive a disease diabetes is to live with and control, but it’s nothing compared to the cost of the enzyme pills. A 30-day supply is over $1200.00! Before he was released from the hospital we found out that his current health insurance didn’t cover the insulin pens he now needs to live, so we had a mad scramble to find new insurance that would cover it. Anyone who’s ever been self- employed and self- insured knows how expensive it can be and now his new policy is more than we can truly afford. It covers less but we cannot afford to not have it. We’re doing everything we can to stay afloat. Dave isn’t eligible for any SSI disability benefits as he’s been self- employed his entire working life and hasn’t paid in enough. I work full time, and my work has been amazingly supportive of us through everything, but Dave’s always been the primary bread winner. We know we can recover when Dave can get back to work, but the struggle is getting greater as time goes on.
We’re thankful and grateful that through modern medicine his life has been saved and prolonged and we know there’s light at the end of this tunnel! My husband is a good, hard working man. He’s made our house a beautiful home over the years. Worked his ass off out in the elements his whole life making other people’s homes better too and he hopes to get back to work in the near future. He’s been off work since last spring, and was hoping to get back to work after he healed from his surgery. Unfortunately, now that he has to do more chemotherapy he simply can’t get back to work yet. His chemo treatments are too debilitating for him to work in any kind of normal capacity or schedule. Chemo is bad enough, but it’s even more complicated now with trying to manage his diabetes and digestion issues. Let’s just say he’s accumulated a few more doctors, LOL! He has his good days and bad days. On his good days he loves to cook and he really wants to get back to working as soon as he can! We know we can get there if we can get through this part. It’s hard to ask for help. It must have been just as hard for our friends to reach out and ask if we needed it, but we do! I can’t tell you how touched and thankful we are to them for doing so! It was their thoughtfulness and inspiration to help us with this and they have shown us that sometimes people really do just want to help in any way they’re able. We appreciate any help, past present and future! It will be paid forward! So that’s our story! Thank you!
Laura Jenks
Organizador y beneficiario
Holly Black
Organizador
Commerce Township, MI
Laura Jenks
Beneficiario