My father, Roger Kramer passed away from lung cancer on June 2nd, 2019 after his 129 day battle. His cancer progressed quickly after his diagnosis on January 24th 2019. The cancer spread to his C2, eating away at the bone and fracturing his neck. After finishing chemotherapy and radiation, a PET scan t revealed the cancer had spread throughout his body. I was honored to care for him in his final days and he passed away 4 days later. We not only lost a father but Craig and I lost a dear friend and community member.

Here is the Kramer family update:

I know we’ve been a little quiet since dad is in the hospital. It’s all been up in the air.

Here’s the scoop:

1) Dad met with speech pathology. They assessed dad’s swallowing. They think dad might be aspirating which means part of his food/drink goes into his lung instead of his stomach thus the pneumonia won’t go away or “aspiration pneumonia.”

2) Speech pathology couldn’t quite tell what was going on so dad essentially swallowed a few video cameras to see if he was aspirating. He passed that test just fine and is NOT aspirating.

3) They did not end up doing a bronchoscope. If they do the bronchoscope, dad May need to keep the breathing tube in for a few days and be sedated. Hopefully this new antibiotic will take care of everything.

4) On paper, dad looks good. Dad feels much weaker and requires much more oxygen all of the time. He used to be able to wear it here and there and now he needs it all of the time until this pneumonia clears up.

5) Dad will get a PET scan on Tuesday (which was supposed to be today) and results on Wednesday.

That’s dad’s plan. Everyone has been sending and posting pictures wearing their #kramerstrong shirts! It has been so uplifting to see while dad is in the hospital. If you have a picture leave it in the comments!!

As for now, mom and dad are on their way HOME! If you’re the praying kind, please include mom and dad in your prayers. Please let us just have a weekend at home. Please no more ER trips and ambulance rides and hospital admissions. Please allow these antibiotics to work. We are strong but we are tired.

I have some more to update on how amazing our community has been and has supported us but for now we are scrambling to get the house ready for mom and dad to come home.

Are you still reading? That was a long post! Thanks for keeping up with us! ❤️

#kramerstrong