I didn’t post last week because Darrel was not doing well and I kept waiting to see if he would get to feeling better so I could write something positive.

The last update was posted on August 25, and he had spent 4 days fishing and crabbing by the 25th. He wore himself out! Tuesday and Wednesday he barely got off the couch and did quite a bit of napping. By Thursday he was doing a little better, but still spent quite a bit of time resting.

Friday morning he went for a walk and then we loaded the boat and took off for Brownsville. It was the Des Moines Yacht Club annual Family of the Year cruise. It was a fairly relaxing cruise for us since neither one of us was involved in the cooking. I think it was only the 3rd time I didn’t at least help with the planning and cooking in the last 10 Labor Day weekends. So, it was nice to take a year off.

Darrel rested each day and went to bed fairly early each night. No partying for him this year! Yesterday after we got home he (and I) relaxed most of the afternoon. Today, he went fishing again but hasn’t seemed to be dragging as much.

Tomorrow he goes in for another CT scan to see if the latest chemo treatments are helping. We then have a doctor appointment on Thursday to find out. If they aren’t working, there isn’t a plan yet for what to try since this was the last chemo regimen for pancreatic cancer. When we asked the doctor last time what was next, he said he would have to make some phone calls.

Now, I am going to get on my soap box for a couple minutes. Many of you have participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge and some of you have actually donated money. ALS is a horrible, terrifying disease. But so is pancreatic and all other cancers.

Some facts:
Approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. The incidence of ALS is two per 100,000 people, and it is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time. Although the life expectancy of an ALS patient averages about two to five years from the time of diagnosis, this disease is variable and many people live with quality for five years and more. More than half of all patients live more than three years after diagnosis.*

An estimated 46,420 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the U.S., and over 39,590 will die from the disease. Pancreatic cancer is one of the few cancers for which survival has not improved substantially in the last 40 years. Pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. 94% of pancreatic cancer patients will die within five years of diagnosis – only 6% will survive more than five years. 74% of patients die within the first year of diagnosis.**

So, I ask you to consider donating for either pancreatic cancer research or for general cancer research. No cute gimmicks or videos, just a heartfelt plea.

The Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Research is a non-profit organization started by the wife of a man who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54.
Donate by clicking here Pancreatic.org

On Friday, September 5, there will be a television benefit to raise money for cancer. This benefit is a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C).
Donate by clicking here Stand Up 2 Cancer

OK, off the soapbox now.

* ALSA.org
** Pancreatic.org