How the Journey Began

Nine months ago...everything was normal....Jeff retired from the Navy, finished his Bachelor's Degree (Magna Cum Laud), and landed a great job at Anteon. Little did we know that everything would be turned upside down in just a few short months.

The 2005 camping season ended and Jeff began to feel fatigued. He started having some minor pains in his right side around the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday but nothing that caused too much concern. He also started having symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). When the pain returned and the fatigue got worse in mid-January, he went to the St. Mary's Hospital ER. They didn't find anything abnormal and referred him to his primary care physician (PCP).

In mid-January 2006, during the follow up visit with Dr. Bhavsar, Jeff's PCP, he was given a glucometer to monitor his blood sugar and the doctor ordered an ultrasound of the liver. The results showed several lesions on his liver and therefore, a CT of the abdoman was ordered.
It was this CT that showed a very poor picture....a 3 centimeter tumor in the head of the pancreas and metastistic lesions covering 50% of his liver. We quickly got a referral to Bethesda Naval Hospital for additional testing.

It was early February when Jeff spent a week at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. He was in great hands there as his testing was overseen by Dr. Kurland, a gastroenterologist, a team of internal medicine and endocrinology physicians and residents, and Dr. Dorrance, our new onologist. They diagnosed Jeff with a two malignant insulinoma tumors (only one showed on the CT) .....a very rare insulin producing tumor. So rare in fact that only 1 in 4 million people per year develop this type of tumor and of those, only 10% are malignant (cancerous)....like Jeff's.

Our oncologist quickly began looking for clinical trials and referred us to the National Institues of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, for follow up and possible participation in a study. Unfortunately for us, there are not a lot of case studies for patients with this type of cancer and traditional treatements (chemotherapy, radition, etc.) have not been very effective. However, the good news is that this type of tumor is usually slow growing and not as aggressive as the "bad" type of pancreatic cancer. Of course, the term "bad" is relative and has a whole new meaning for us.

We monitor Jeff's blood sugar regularly now and have had a few episodes that scared us. We have all learned to watch for the symptoms (confusion, trembling, etc.) and make sure he eats every 2-3 hours to keep his blood sugar from getting low. Despite taking medication and eating regularly, he's still having problems keeping his blood sugar at an optimal level (80-100).

Thus begins Jeff's journey to see what treatment options are available.
Our friends, family and co-workers have been so awsome through all of this and are to be commended for their continued support. We feel truely blessed to have such a wonderful support system and are most thankful for everyone who has placed Jeff and the family on their prayer chain at church. Please keep us in your prayers as this may be a long journey....