On Sunday, October 1st, we made a late evening trip to the Emergency Department of the Salem Hospital.  Barbara had complained of numbness for several days, but she wasn't eating do to stomach upset, so we figured it was just dehydration.  An MRI showed clotting in her legs and a shotgun pattern of strokes in her brain.  The doctors wanted to know why she was throwing off clots, so a full body CT was ordered.  The bad news just kept coming.  The CT showed masses in her pancreas, liver, etc.  A biopsy later confirmed what doctors suspected, pancreatic cancer. 

Barb will start chemo in another week once some preliminary things happen.  She wants to fight the disease as long as she can.  The strokes are causing difficulty in walking and dexterity with her left hand.  We will be working on easing her nausea this week.  Once that is improved, we can concentrate on PT exercises.  I will try to keep this website update periodically with her status. jim