Hello all,

As many of you know, I am a very private person, but the time has come to share the journey I have been on since 2022. Here we go. I moved back to Fargo in August of 2022, I wasn't feeling the greatest, but brushed it off as the stress of work and the possibility of having had a mild case of covid, and this continued until Thanksgiving weekend. I ended up going to the emergency room, as I thought I was having a heart attack. Turns out, I wasn't! I was approximately 3 pints low on blood, which is what caused the symptoms. I was admitted immediately, and after a ct scan and colonoscopy the next day, it was determined that there was a large mass in the colorectal area. After conversations about palliative care and possibly hospice, I had surgery on the Sunday of that weekend, and a mass 9x6, plus 40 lymph nodes was removed. Subsequent pathology showed clear margins with only one of the lymph nodes having any cancer in it. I went on to have chemo in the new year, which in turn impacted my heart. I have also been dealing with congestive heart failure since 2015, so the chemo made my heart condition worse. I muddled through 2023, and had a pacemaker with a defib placed in December. I made the mistake of trying to do it all with out asking for much help. That's all I will say about that for now, other than it was not a great idea.

In July of 2024, I was fortunate to be hired at Sandy's Donuts in production. This is a place that has been nothing short of amazing to work for, and fun besides! In February of 2025, I was attending some routine follow up with oncology, and it was discovered that the cancer from 2022, had metastasized to my liver. Scans and tests were done, and during all of this, I had a mild heart attack in March, luckily I was at work, and was able to get help immediately. One of the stents that had been placed in 2018 was blocked, and so it was cleared and another was put in place to support it.

In June, I had an ablation on my liver to remove the spot that was found in February. The procedure was laparoscopic, and involved using microwaves to burn it out. I healed well from this procedure, and it was during a series of MRI, CT and PET scans to check the healing that brings us to where I am today. If you are still reading, thank you!

Another spot was identified, this time in the small intestine. It was there in February, but had not been lit up as brightly as it was in August. After discussions with my oncologist, Dr. Kobrossy, and the surgeon that had done my original surgery, Dr. Dees, it was decided that a full, open abdominal surgery would be done, and approximately 12 inches of small intestine would be removed around the area of concern. This surgery is planned for 10/23/25 at Essentia here in Fargo. I will also be having a port placed that day, as the one had had put in in early 2023, needed to be removed before the pacemaker was put in. The port placement will be part of the abdominal surgery, so I do not have to undergo more anesthesia.