Rodney Jaeger

Dear Family and Friends,Rodney was diagnosed with cancer on Feb 14th, 2018.   His story started in November around Thanksgiving time.  He cut way back on his sugar intake and then developed a thirst he could not quench.  Just prior to this he had had a blood panel ran in Washburn and everything looked good.  By the beginning of Jan. his thirst was still fierce and he was drinking about 2 gallons of water a day and peeing most of it out.  In the meantime he's also dropped a lot of weight.  So back to the clinic he went for another blood panel, this time his blood sugar level came back at 145, pre-diabetic,  compared tothe Nov test it had been at 95.  So they put him on Metformin.  So he started  that and life goes on for two weeks, he came home on a Wed not feeling the best and the next week his voice was very hoarse and weak.  This went on for another two weeks and last week he went in to the clinic again.  Now one side effect of the new med is hoarse voice, but he happened to mention that he couldn't take a very deep breath anymore, so they did an x-ray.  There was a spot on the x-ray on his lung that concerned them so they scheduled a CT scan for him for this past Monday.  The results indicated more than just the spot on his lung, so they ordered a PET Scan for Feb 14th as well as a consult with Dr. Pansegrau (Cardiology/Vascular).  And then a pulmonary function test following that.  Well, Dr. Pansegrau told us  that it is cancer and because of it's location on the lung and in his lymph nodes it is considered advanced.  The reason for the hoarseness is that one of the lymph nodes that has a nodule on it is also pressing against  a nerve that effects the vocal chords.  So that answers that question.  He also has suffered from Chronic back pain, but it's been worse of late, he has a nodule on his L3 (lower back), so that could be reason for back pain (although he's had that for a very long time) Dr. Pansegrau then canceled the pulmonary function test as it was not needed instead he sent us immediately to Dr. Gupta who has scheduled Rodney for a Bronchoscopy next Wed.  This will allow him to tell us what kind of cancer it is and what the stage is.  From there Rodney will get an oncologist  and the plan of attack will be developed.  So, we still don't have all the answers, but we know where we are and that we have battle ahead of us.  We have told the kids and I welcome any questions, although bear in mind that for now this is all we know and it will likely be 10 to 14 days before we know any new info.  We would appreciate it if you passed this along to your extended families and we just ask for prayers.  It's the start of a long battle, but we are ready for it and have faith that God will guide us to the specialists that we need to beat this.  te. We are using Caring Bridge to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.