by the numbers… connor’s pancreatic cancer journey
here’s what the 895+ days have looked like beginning on december 24, 2021 when the symptoms and many tests started.
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connor, jennifer and their two sons.
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this article was originally published on august 1, 2024. here’s what the 895+ days have looked like beginning on december 24, 2021 when the symptoms and many tests started, through the april 2022 diagnosis and continuing to august 2024.
the day-to-day care and appointments:
- 16+ medical teams providing ongoing care (this doesn’t even include the us consults!)
- 35+ oncology appointments
- countless other medical appointments with various practitioners
- 30+ calls to palliative team, some in middle of the night, others scheduled
- 4 visits from palliative doc at home
- 90+ in-home nursing visits since april 20th, 2024 (many before that in past years as well)
the tests:
- 30 ct scans
- 14 endoscopies
- 3 mris
- 17 ultrasounds
- 17 x-rays
- 6 biopsies
the procedures:
- 1 celiac plexus block procedure
- 14 stents put in his bile ducts / duodenum (9 are in there right now)
- 2 ports inserted in the chest to receive chemo (need to be accessed every 4 weeks even post chemo to keep it healthy)
- 1 picc line inserted into his arm to receive medications and iv nutrition
- 150+ blood draws (too many to count)
- 2 blood transfusions
- 7 iron infusions
- 1 external biliary drain inserted
- 3 nasal-gastric tubes inserted
- 1 venting g-tube inserted
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connor underwent 34 rounds of chemotherapy as part of facing pancreatic cancer.
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the really tough stuff
- 6 infections requiring antibiotics (including a couple of instances of sepsis)
- 77 nights spent in hospital
- 3 covid diagnoses (no symptoms, but still required paxlovid for two and isolation)
- 2 harrowing ambulance rides
- 18 trips to an emergency department
- 15 litres of fluid drained from his abdomen through five paracenteses
- 84 days on an external pain pump
- 129 days with an external biliary drain
- 48 days and counting with a venting g-tube to drain abdominal contents due to partial bowel obstruction
- 205 days getting injectable blood thinners (fortunately moved to pills!)
the treatments and the meds:
- 34 rounds of chemotherapy
- 4 months on olaparib, a targeted treatment
- 5 months on rmc-6236, the kras inhibitor targeted treatment trial drug
- many oral and iv daily prescription medications
- 15 – 20 pancreatic enzyme supplement pills taken daily when he was eating regular meals. these pills need to be taken with every meal because his pancreas isn’t functioning as it should.
the mind, body and spirit stuff:
- 60+ appointments with connor’s cancer coach
- 150+ disgusting vegetable juices made with love
- 103 virtual workouts with a trainer and a month at f45 fitness
- 70+ runs
- 17 acupuncture treatments
- 24 massage appointments
- 18+calls with nutritionists
- 6 other forms of integrative care consults (1 functional medicine, 1 integrative pharmacist, 2 integrative consults with us docs, 2 naturopaths)
- many medications (some off label) and supplements taken daily
- 1 visit to a spiritual medical doctor in cleveland
connor was determined to try anything and everything available to treat his cancer. his commitment was be around for his wife and sons.
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the trials and research:
- 15 trips to cincinnati from september 2023 to march 2024 for the kras trial
- 7+ official consults with us hospitals (including two trips to the us, many phone calls, docs shared and lots of hounding!)
- 100s of articles read as part of our research
- 5 books read on healing your cancer
- 200+ trials tracked and reviewed for applicability / promise
- 9+ doctors who we’ve consulted on top of his regular teams for one off or recurring support (1 gi doc, 4 medical oncologists, 2 integrative oncologists, 2 radiation oncologists, 2 surgical oncologists)
- countless hours spent scouring twitter, medical express and pancreatic cancer organizations for trials and treatment options (mostly jen!)
- 10+ email outreach to survivors, oncologists or others we’ve come across in our research (you’d be surprised how receptive they all are to helping someone they don’t know!)
the good stuff and why the treatment’s worth it:
- the pancreatic cancer patients connor has gotten inspiration from
- the patients we have been able to support through their journey, including two who we were able to help join the same clinical trial as connor, and are very glad they did!
- the opportunity to give back, including the support we received from friends and family to raise $50,000 for princess margaret’s pancreatic cancer care team
- the downs and the things that he went through above were followed by ups – the liver drain was removed, the infections were recovered from, the ascites fluid hasn’t come back, the pain pump came off (and on again, but we hope it will be off again one day), the side effects resolved, the dark days brightened
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the most important numbers of all…
- 6+ trips to the cottage
- 6 jays games attended
- 5 birthdays with our kids (one turning 2, 3, 4 and the other turning 5 and 6)
- 2 milestone birthdays for both of us – turning 40!
- 10 t-ball games coached, many more attended
- 4 taekwondo belt promotion ceremonies attended for the kids
- countless kids’ activities attended
- countless nightly wrestling matches with the boys and weekly movie nights
- 3 concerts attended
- 3 weekends away as a couple
- 1 son’s graduation
- many trips to the movies
- 10+ days on the slopes
- 3 trips to bondi
- 3 christmas and new years’ and many holiday celebrations
- seeing so many firsts for our kids
- countless board games played
- countless dinners with friends and family
- countless memories made
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