Glenn Pfingsten

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Grab a cup of coffee and sit back and relax as you ready this novel of the past 3 weeks. I am not known for keeping anything short and sweet!  I am Malinda, Glenn's niece and LeRoy & Arlis' daughter.

March 2016 - Mom and dad were in Mesa visiting Glenn. He had his teeth removed for dentures. He came home then in May and complained of his teeth all summer. 


Fall 2016 - Many had noticed Glenn had lost a lot of weight. He blamed it on his dentures, headed back to AZ and did get his dentures fixed finally, but no weight gain.


March 2017 - Mom and dad went to visit again. He was not eating much at all, but with mom's good cooking, he started to eat again and even seemed to enjoy it.  After they left, the neighbors noticed he wasn't coming over, wasn't eating and was becoming weaker. They called mom and dad and were concerned. Glenn would never would complain of anything if anyone would ask.


Finally right before Easter, he called Larry Hoffmann up and was ready to come home to see a doctor because he wasn't feeling well.  Bless his heart, Larry flew down the next day and drove him home. Once Larry arrived in AZ, he was very concerned about Glenn's health, was tempted to fly him home, but instead loaded him and took off for ND.


OUR plan was for him to take Glenn directly to the ER, but Glenn had other plans when they reached the Embden exit!! So he took him home and called us.  Dad and I went down there then to try and convince him to go in yet that night.  That was Monday, April 17.  He refused to go to the ER that night. His priority was getting his cable switched back to ND so he could watch the Twins, and get his water on so he could wash clothes! Didn't get either accomplished that night, but both on in the morning, so by noon he agreed to head in with Jerry Discher and Alvin Wolff.  We collabrated together and I met them in the ER without Glenn knowing. We didn't know how he'd react, but he was ok with me being there too.  If nothing else, I had my faithful body guards, but he was cooperative and joking with the cute nurses and NP.

Diagnosed then with a bad bladder infection and an x-ray and CT showed a mass in his left lung, liver, and spots in his abdomen. Plan of action was home and to the pulmonologist the next day to see about a lung biopsy.

The pulmonologist was from Poland! We loved his accent and Uncle Glenn had to ask where he was from! He said we want to biopsy the point furthest from the origin, so were sent to radiology another day for a liver biopsy. Radiologist decided we would biopsy abdominal nodes instead of liver. That's when we found the true origin of his cancer was his colon. So, all you Pfingstens out there, get your colonoscopies done, because the oncologist looked me straight in the eye and said, "It's hereditary." We want ALL of you to get them done, not just the relatives!

Then he had a PET scan done last Friday, different oncologist yesterday, and home with a list of nursing homes for me to try and find an opening. Yesterday he did say he wanted to try chemo, but soooo very weak I honestly don't think he can tolerate it.

I hated to leave him at home yesterday, but needed to get busy calling nursing homes.  In hindsight, I wish I would have just driven him directly to the ER, but  did leave him with his dear friend and neighbor Jerry. I don't think Jerry wanted me to leave. I did leave him with a huge responsibility, and I am forever grateful to him for ALL the checking in on Glenn he has done over the years.   Dalon and I talked last night and he said he'd be out early to check on him. He called me by 8:15 am and said Glenn was so extremely weak. I tried calling back to oncology and before they got back to me, we made the decision to call the ambulance. 

So, three weeks to the day after this began, we were back in the ER, but admitted today. The prognosis isn't good. He has some things going on in his abdomen because of the colon cancer. We are waiting on a surgery consult and oncology. He possibly has a mass in his brain too, but he couldn't tolerate laying still long enough tonight to have an MRI completed, but not sure those results would really change our plan of treatment anyway.

So, we sit and wait. He is extremely weak and very hard to understand when he talks. I can easily tell the days he is feeling stronger because he talks louder. His sense of humor is still there and making wise cracks. He loves teasing the nurses, but on the other hand, name one Pfingsten who doesn't!! The nurses all love and are envious of his blue eyes! They still have their twinkle, but they are tired too.

Right now he is in Room 522 at Essentia Hospital. Short, short visits are ok for now, but he is very tired and weak. The Twins are on tv and even winning 7-2 and he is sleeping. That should tell you right there how weak he is. 


Throughout this entire ordeal he is trying to figure out how he can be this sick without any pain. Healthy as a horse minus the nasty cancer.


 We will share with him any comments you post here, and will update you as soon as we know anything different. Prayers are very much appreciated.