Wally Fasulo

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.  Our story started June 15th. Wally was feeling abdomen pressure and discomfort. He had a lump just below his ribs on His left side. We thought he may have pulled a muscle or injured himself so we were giving it a day or two to heal.  On the 18th at our massages, his masseuse seggested he get it checked out as it hadn't changed. So he called his primary doctor that day and was told Dr Corbett was out of the office until Tuesday the 23rd. We then chose to celebrate Sophia's High School Graduation on Saturday, Father's Day on Sunday. Monday the 22nd there was still no change, so I said we needed to get in and check this out. Wally said Dr. Corbett is in tomorrow we will go in then. So on the 23rd we went to Dr Corbett's office hoping he could squeeze us in. He sent us to the ER at United Hospital (next door). They ran a load of test, labs and a CT with contrast of his abdomenand. While I waited in the park two blocks away due to COVID. The ER Dr called me to let me know that the CT of his abdomenand showed a mass on his pancreas and stomach. They admitted him to the hospital that night.  I was able to bring him his c-pap and personal items that night. So I got to see him which was needed by both of us. We were able to hug, pray and talk together. We decided then to live by faith and not fear. We would wait for more tests and results to know our next steps. On the 24th we were given the news that the tumor was on the pancreas, stomach, abdomen wall, and 2 of the 3 lobes of his liver. I am thinking "how big is this thing?". The lump was his stomach being pushed out of the way in a sense by the tumor on his pancreas. The surgical dr from united came in and explained that it was a large mass on the pancreas, that pushed up against the stomach and abdomen wall, with spots on the liver. So it wasn't one massive tumor taking up his whole gut. They scheduled and did a untrasound needle biopsy of the spots on his liver on the 24th at 11 am. This was the choice of biopsy because it was the least invasive. If the spots on his liver showed pancreatic cancer we knew it was all related. If not more invasive tests could be done. 25th we met with Dr Ducker the oncologist from MN Oncology. They were pretty sure it was cancer from the CT, but we wanted to get the biopsy results before going any further. Dr Ducker wanted to be sure it hadn't spread any further so ordered a CT of his lungs. If lungs were clear no more spread. If not we would have to check bones with a pet scan. Wally had lung CT with contrast on 25th at 5:45 pm. 26th found out that CT of lungs were clear. PTL. We were then discharged from the hospital and told biopsy results were still pending and would probably be available on Monday. We were to follow up with Wally's primary dr for biopsy results then. We called to see if Dr Corbett's office could rush the results but no such luck. So we followed discharge instructions for a weekend of resting and relaxing. Enjoyed visits from friends and family and just waited on God for our next step. Monday the 29th we spent the day on the phone setting up appointments, researching insurance, and treatment options just in case. On Tuesday the 30th we finally got the biopsy reports. They were positive for pancreatic cancer. Wally was stage 4, because it was already effecting more organs than the pancreas. Next step treatment options. And a follow up with Dr. Corbett for the biopsy on July 7th at 12:30. We plan to get treatment options from MN Oncology - Dr Ducker, Dr Greeno at the U of M, and the Immuno Therapy Institute in Tijuana Mexico. We will then pray about it and decide which treatment road is best for us and which road we will take.