Paul Tjogas Debbie & Paul

Dear friends and family:  Welcome to our CaringBridge website.

Paul and I are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place about his recently-commenced battle with pancreatic cancer.   

Over the last few weeks, our family has been hit with some bad news.  The first was that Paul has early stage multiple myeloma.  It’s a cancer in the marrow of the bone (plasma).  We were of course devastated, with the prediction that he would likely need chemo in 1 to 2 years.

Unfortunately, subsequent news is much worse.  Paul had been having some abdominal pain, first thought to be gastric in nature, but it did not respond to medication for that.  A CT scan, and subsequent liver biopsy has now confirmed that he has pancreatic cancer, metastatic to the liver.  
You may know that this is a very aggressive cancer, with a poor prognosis and limited treatment options.   We are trying to stay positive, and have been seeing multiple oncologists to help us make the best treatment decisions possible.  Paul quit working just before Easter to save his energy for this medical battle.  We were able to make a trip to Houston to see his siblings and wish his mom a happy 95th birthday.

Darryl and Chloe know about their dad's condition, but we are trying to keep them away from statistics and off the internet.  Paul is otherwise so healthy and strong, that we all hope that the statistics just do not apply.  We are instead encouraging the kids to reach out to their friends, as we are now to ours.   We have promised to tell them the truth, as we learn it.   

Please know that Paul and I both know that you care.  We appreciate your support and words of hope.  I will try to keep you updated using this webpage.  Please feel free to leave Paul a word of encouragement here.

Love, Deb