Let me just go ahead and apologize up front, cause not sure if i'll get thru this wo offending someone!
My Brother lost his battle w Pancreatic Cancer last night! He lived in Little Rock and Ill be headed there in the morning for my second trip in as many weeks. Now for the title explanation. Last December he started having stomach pains and began losing weight. He weighed approx 184 pounds when all this began and was losing 3-4 pounds a week on avg. He sold RV's in LR so didn't have insurance. He went to the VA hospital in LR early last December and it was after the first of Jan before they would see him. First Dr told him he just had stomach problems and began treating him for Ulcers and H Pylori, which is a stomach bacteria. Still steadily losing weight, in Feb they booked him for an upper GI in March. March he's weighing in , in the 130's, Scope day comes and low and behold, no stomach problems, they then refer him to an Oncologist. Of course, can't see him till End of April. Still losing weight! If ur on the Biggest Loser, this is great progress!! It was 4 weeks from the date of the Oncology testing, MRi's etc, Early May, he gets told he has stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer and is given 4 to 6 months to live, Still losing weight! Now he's somewhere around 110 pounds.(please don't check me on the Math, cause I'm just retelling how he told it to me!) This is about when he decides he better let the rest of the family know and he calls us here in Texas. I'm no Math Major, but even I could do the math and realize that at the rate he was losing weight, he wasn't going to see 6 weeks, much less 4 months! So my Brother from Liberty and I loaded up to go see him last week. What I saw when I arrived made me sick to my stomach and ripped my heart out!! This extremely athletic, fit Veteran looked like a POW! He had more bone definition than muscle! That evening he told us the rough timeline I just relayed here. I listened in pure disbelief that not just my Brother, but one of our veterans would get such treatment or should I say lack of treatment from the Country he served! All my life I have been so proud of this country and especially this great state! But as he was telling his story, I became Soo ashamed! Ashamed of myself for letting life keep me from staying closer contact with my Brother! Ashamed of our Government for allowing even 1 veteran to have to go thru this, Ashamed that this difunctional system has probably killed more soldiers than we'll ever know, just because they had no other choices!
That evening as I sat in my hotel room sobbing over all this. A commercial for the Reality show "Biggest Loser" came on, a show where we watch a network get rich over an Obese individuals struggle with their weight. Then they reward the "Biggest Loser" if they meet certain milestones in their journey! I don't get it, Again I was Ashamed!! The real Reality show was happening right there in my Brothers house. He was the ultimate Loser! He lost cause he trusted that his country would take care of him. He lost because he didn't want to burden his family. He ended up with slightly over 90 pounds lost. And last night this devil we call cancer, took another good man/soldier!!
Tomorrow morning I leave to go honor him and at least get him the Veteran Burial he deserves!
Sorry for the long read! i just needed to vent, rant or whatever u wanna call it! May God Bless Our Troops and May no Veteran or Soldier you know ever have to go thru this! Thanks for listening Brothers!
My Brother lost his battle w Pancreatic Cancer last night! He lived in Little Rock and Ill be headed there in the morning for my second trip in as many weeks. Now for the title explanation. Last December he started having stomach pains and began losing weight. He weighed approx 184 pounds when all this began and was losing 3-4 pounds a week on avg. He sold RV's in LR so didn't have insurance. He went to the VA hospital in LR early last December and it was after the first of Jan before they would see him. First Dr told him he just had stomach problems and began treating him for Ulcers and H Pylori, which is a stomach bacteria. Still steadily losing weight, in Feb they booked him for an upper GI in March. March he's weighing in , in the 130's, Scope day comes and low and behold, no stomach problems, they then refer him to an Oncologist. Of course, can't see him till End of April. Still losing weight! If ur on the Biggest Loser, this is great progress!! It was 4 weeks from the date of the Oncology testing, MRi's etc, Early May, he gets told he has stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer and is given 4 to 6 months to live, Still losing weight! Now he's somewhere around 110 pounds.(please don't check me on the Math, cause I'm just retelling how he told it to me!) This is about when he decides he better let the rest of the family know and he calls us here in Texas. I'm no Math Major, but even I could do the math and realize that at the rate he was losing weight, he wasn't going to see 6 weeks, much less 4 months! So my Brother from Liberty and I loaded up to go see him last week. What I saw when I arrived made me sick to my stomach and ripped my heart out!! This extremely athletic, fit Veteran looked like a POW! He had more bone definition than muscle! That evening he told us the rough timeline I just relayed here. I listened in pure disbelief that not just my Brother, but one of our veterans would get such treatment or should I say lack of treatment from the Country he served! All my life I have been so proud of this country and especially this great state! But as he was telling his story, I became Soo ashamed! Ashamed of myself for letting life keep me from staying closer contact with my Brother! Ashamed of our Government for allowing even 1 veteran to have to go thru this, Ashamed that this difunctional system has probably killed more soldiers than we'll ever know, just because they had no other choices!
That evening as I sat in my hotel room sobbing over all this. A commercial for the Reality show "Biggest Loser" came on, a show where we watch a network get rich over an Obese individuals struggle with their weight. Then they reward the "Biggest Loser" if they meet certain milestones in their journey! I don't get it, Again I was Ashamed!! The real Reality show was happening right there in my Brothers house. He was the ultimate Loser! He lost cause he trusted that his country would take care of him. He lost because he didn't want to burden his family. He ended up with slightly over 90 pounds lost. And last night this devil we call cancer, took another good man/soldier!!
Tomorrow morning I leave to go honor him and at least get him the Veteran Burial he deserves!
Sorry for the long read! i just needed to vent, rant or whatever u wanna call it! May God Bless Our Troops and May no Veteran or Soldier you know ever have to go thru this! Thanks for listening Brothers!
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