Jeff started getting sick in September 2009.
Just getting sick to his stomach now and then.
Soon it was everyday.
Then it was several times a day.
By October it was bad enough that he wasn't able to work.
He spent Thanksgiving 2009 in bed...missing the Kaufholz Klan T-Day for the first time.
Three days later he was in Tampa General Hospital for the first of many stays.
Scans and scopes - tests and IVs.
He was home for Christmas Day, but back in ER the day after.
We saw the New Year in at TGH.
It was the Year of No Holidays.
By January of 2010, Jeff had lost 50 pounds and was getting worse and worse. He had his exploratory surgery on January 8th.
The Moron Surgeon came out of surgery to tell me that he had biopsied the tumor
and it was cancer and since he doesn't handle that, he was closing him up.
(Hint to doctors: if it's on the pancreas, DON'T TOUCH IT!!!)
I made the moron at least put in a j-tube so that Jeff could get some nutrition.
So - it was cancer. Pancreatic cancer. Cancer on his native pancreas.
Damn pancreas - it's been trying to kill Jeff for years!
We basically lived at TGH from November until April.
I fed Jeff through the j-tube and he had some chemo and radiation until The Surgeon God, Dr. Alex Rosemurgy,
performed a Whipple on Jeff on April 13, 2010.
Seven hours of surgery later, minus the tumor, bile duct, duadenum (sp?), gall bladder and part of his stomach, Jeff was in recovery. And we heard those wonderful words "Clear Margins"!
Jeff was Cancer-Free! YEA!!
Or, so we thought!
Recovering from a Whipple is tough, but he was alive and we were thrilled.
The j-tube was out - replaced by the drain tube.
After a week, Jeff was feeling better but started complaining about this little bump that had appeared just under his drain tube site.
We asked each doctor we saw about it.
"Hmmm, looks like an ingrown hair."
It grew and got even more painful.
"Huh, I don't know what that could be."
Jeff came home from the hospital and was so thrilled to be able to eat real food again.
But that bump continued to grow...and hurt.
When we went back to see Dr. Rosemurgy he took one look at it and said, "Hmmm...I have no idea what that is - but it doesn't belong there so let's just take that puppy out!"

We were not terribly concerned. After all, Jeff is The Phoenix and had just lived through a surgery that would have killed most one-armed, double transplant recipients!
My beautiful sister, Carol, was in New Hampshire dying. I needed to go see her.
I knew Jeff was in good hands with Dr. Rosemugy, and it was only suppose to be a day surgery, so I headed north to see my wonderful sister for the last time.
Imagine my horror when I found out that the "bump" was a cancerous tumor!! AND two cancerous lymph nodes to boot!!
I'll say it again IF IT'S ON THE PANCREAS, DO NOT TOUCH IT!!!!
This was a "floater" from the original biopsy taken during the exploratory by the Moron Surgeon that had attached itself to the abdominal wall.

Just a few of the pictures from a couple of the stays at TGH.
 

When we arrived home from the trip to North Carolina, where we attended the Memorial for Jeff's parents (his mother passed away several days after his Whipple surgery while he was in the hospital and unable to go see her), we found that I had be let go from Hilton and Jeff''s Medicaid had been cancelled. Great - we have no income and no insurance! Today, Jeff is continuing to lose weight. His pain increases and intensifies daily. The PET scan shows that the cancer is quite aggressive. It has moved into his lungs, liver and there are more tumors in his abdomen. It's hard to believe that the Big C is going to take down this amazing man!
Jeff has elected to stay home and have Hospice come in to manage his pain. We will continue to try to make the best of each day that we have together.

Jeff Kaufholz  October 23, 1956 - September 12, 2010

If love could have saved you
you would have lived forever.

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