Join Clay's Fight Against Cancer

This GO FUND ME is being set up for Clay and I who are facing a curve ball that life has thrown our direction, it is crazy how fast this hit.

Clay has been diagnosed with cancer is in his abdomen and has metastasized to bones. The cancer is being labeled at this point as “Primary Unknown”.

Just like that, life as we knew it no longer exists. Our “norm” is gone, and we are navigating through what will be deemed as a “new norm” for now. The plethora of emotions have been exhausting to say the least on top of Clay’s new daily routine of dealing with and caring for a GI tube daily and a bile drain bag to lower his bilirubin. As a result of cancer and non-functional small bowels, the GI tube was placed to allow stomach fluid, and any clear liquids that he drinks to flow into a bag outside of his body. He is unable to eat regular foods and receives his nutrition through a TPN bag through an IV PIC line. Pallative care is helping him establish a good regimen of meds for pain control. He has a long road ahead of him and the focus is on optimistic goals and expectations with guidance from the care team. They want to get a treatment plan put together at Rush and have the efforts coordinated with Carle for the treatments. This way they can be home and get settled in. Now a biliary bag has been added for bilirubin elevation and jaundice issues.

Clay is self-employed and has not been able to work for a few months and has a long road to recovery. I am working remotely which is a complete blessing and allows me some normality in life during this up and down and day by day adventure we are traveling together. This go fund me will help with extra expenses beyond what is currently covered. There are some things needed that are not always covered by insurance. I will be getting the paperwork in for SSD, but we all know that can be a long daunting process.

Here is a summary that I have written to help everyone better understand.

- Total days spent between two hospitals: 28 days. Went home late Thursday 06/20/2024 and Monday 06/24/2024 he was transported to Carle ER.

Clay had been experiencing back and shoulder pains for quite some time. Assuming it was as a result his occupation. Over the counter medication, ice and rest would intermittently provide relief. Sometime during the first week of April he started to experience more than normal bloating, extreme contracting pains, unable to eat and when he would it would result in getting sick which gave him relief. After a few days of this cycle, we went to the ER.

Timeline:

4/21/2024 ER Visit: they did some x-rays, CT scans, and blood work. He was sent home with meds for ulcer, indigestion, and muscle relaxer. At home he continued discomfort and pain.

5/10/2024 back to the ER which landed us in the hospital being treated for a small bowel obstruction, released on 05/13/2024.

5/17/2024 we went to see a family practitioner who ordered MRI and more blood work.

5/20/2024 back to doc to review MRI results, while at this visit Clay expressed the severe pain in his calf. It was so severe we had to borrow a walker from our neighbor. Doc sent us to the clinic for an ultrasound of the calf. It was determined he had a blood clot. Sent to ER, sent home with blood thinner. MR showed a right clavicle fracture, and a few ribs on right side fractured. The fractures are from the bone lesions (bone cancer).

5/23/2024 back to ER, severe pain, vomiting, unable to eat and concern for dehydration and visual appearance of weakening and weight loss. At this point he had lost 30 pounds in a month.

5/23/ - 6/8/2024 admitted to the hospital, numerous tests are done. Final testing results in bone biopsy, abdomen biopsies and GI tube placement to drain GI fluids that are not filtering through the small bowels due to multiple sections of small bowels not functioning.

6/8/2024 – currently we are at Chicago Rush University Medical Center. A lot of emotional ups and downs, at this point he has lost 65 pounds and presenting with jaundice. Learning to navigate our way through the daily upkeep and maintenance of the GI tube and the bag, and his pain amongst many other things I will not go into detail about.

6/14/2024 the oncology surgical team is hoping to perform an ERCP to insert a stent to help the flow of the bile ducts which have constriction and causing his bilirubin to rise. The pancreas, gallbladder, and other organs all dump together and there is a constriction before the small bowels which is why the stent could not be placed. His bilirubin is going down which is fabulous news, thank you Jesus! I noticed yesterday that he did not appear as yellow, and the whites of his eyes did not seem as yellow. This procedure was unsuccessful.

06/17/2024 Dr Jarren Takaki - Resident Radiology Physician performed a PTC on Monday.

He now has a bag that is draining fluid from the liver that was clogged causing the jaundice and bilirubin numbers to go sky high.

06/20/2024 Got home late Thursday night, getting adjusted but he is more relaxed at home.

06/24/2024 Called 911 to have him transported by ambulance to Carle ER. He was experiencing a lot of dry heaving and even more loss of energy and less cognitive. CT scans, blood work. It appears he has an infection in his gallbladder from the biliary bag/liver stent procedure which is common. He is on IV antibiotics.

06/26/2024 He is still in the hospital. Spoke with Dr Barnett who will be doing a CT mapping scan today to start Radiation Treatments on the most affected bone lesions. We also spoke with Dr Sahai the medical oncologist who is suggesting we start a chem regimen called "Folfox". We are praying that the combination will reduce pain, slow tumor growth and still allow quality of life. They can begin radiation even with the infection that is subsiding but the chemo cannot begin until he is in the safe zone. The plans are for him to be home, continue with home health care a couple days a week. He still requires 24/7 care which we are covering. Once the radiation and chemo appointments are in place we will take him to those appointments.

06/27/2024 was discharged from Carle which he was very happy about. Got him all situated and had a good night.

06/28/2024 Not feeling as well today, lack of sleep, 2 more pounds lost, he is now 186. One PIC line is clogged and if we cannot flush it to open we will be taking a trip to ED again so they can flush it. TPN is coming tonight around 8:30 so I can get him hooked up to that. Hospital bed was delivered and is all set up. His daughter Amber has been here all day and has been a HUGE help with all of the moving parts. Please continue to pray we need lots of prayers.

Recapping: The cancer is in his abdomen and metastasized to bones. The cancer is being labeled at this point as “Primary Unknown”. He has now lost 50+ pounds.

Praying for treatment plan as soon as possible.

One step at a time, lots of prayers, day by day, good results, healing, and recovery!!

I will continue to update as I can, thank you to everyone for praying and support!!!