it has been a while

[docpd]

Hi everyone,

Haven't been here in some time and have not brewed in several months. Life got in the way of my brewing. My wife, Kathy, had a life threatening illness in June and is just now getting back close to normal. It is quite a story. I will share the short version with you.

On June 3rd, she awakened with severe abdominal pain. Because she is a tough lady who never complains I took her right to the ER. It looked like an episode of pancreatitis, which was unusual because she has no risk factors for that, but she was requiring high dose morphine to control the pain. She was admitted and after she continued to get
worse over the next few days a detailed CT scan was done. It showed a mass in the head of the pancreas involving the main artery to the upper abdomen. This looked like pancreatic cancer to all the doctors, including me. As you may or may not know, pancreatic cancer is a death sentence. The 1 year survival rate is less than 10%. She continued to have severe pain, and I began to try to fathom what life would be without my best friend and soulmate of 43 years. Several days later a biopsy was done which did not show any cancer cells and some other tests were not consistent with cancer. To make a long story short, she was seen by multiple other specialists and had a number of other scans and tests which suggested an infection in the lining of the major blood vessel next to the pancreas. After nearly 2 weeks in the hospital, she went home. She needed 4 weeks of IV antibiotics at home and was started on a blood thinner because of a clot in that blood vessel.

A repeat CT scan a month later showed the mass to be shrinking, which cancers do not do without treatment. Another battery of tests revealed that she has an auto-immune blood clotting disorder which together with the infection was likely the cause of the whole problem. Another scan last week showed the mass to be gone and the vessel to be healing. She probably will need to be on a blood thinner for life but that is a lot better than dying of pancreatic cancer. She still has some residual problems but is getting better all the time

Needless to say, I did not have much interest in brewing during this time. Now that she is doing much better I am getting back into it. Brewed a Wee Heavy today. It was good to brew again. Hope to be around here more often.

[bpgreen]

Welcome back. I'm glad everything worked out.

[berryman]

Glad to hear she is doing better and not quite as serious as initially thought. Happy to hear you are back and brewing and hope to hear from you time to time on the Borg.

[Beer-lord]

So very glad there was good news. I can't imagine what you were going thru. This will be a very special Thanksgiving.
Welcome back. Do you know what your first brew will be now that you are ready?

[John Sand]

Wow, Doc, thank God she is okay. Give her a hug for us.
Welcome back.

[Inkleg]

Wow what a scare! I'm glad to hear she is responding to treatment and is in the mend.

[FrozenInTime]

Glad to hear she will be alright. Those cancers are a nasty thing.

[mashani]

I am also glad that your back and everything is working out for the better.

[RickBeer]

Very scary. Glad she is doing better. Can't imagine going through that.

[BlackDuck]

So glad you received the good news you were all hoping for. A lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

[FedoraDave]

That's quite an ordeal, and I'm glad it turned out positive. You definitely deserve a homebrew.

Welcome back to the Borg, Doc.