Elkan M. Katz, born May 21, 1945 in Baltimore, died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Linda, and daughter Rachel, son-in-law Dave, and newly-born granddaughter Lyla Darwin. He is also survived by brother Leon D. Katz and nieces and nephews.

Elkan was an attorney at Kohn, Swift and Graf and a longtime resident of Center City and West Tisbury. He was an enthusiastic biker, ping-pong player, and follower of progressive politics, writing many published letters to the editor.

He will be remembered by his longtime friends and family as a kind, humorous, loving and uniquely brave and honorable person who showed constant devotion and love.

There will be a private interment and a memorial service on November 3^rd.

Visiting hours will be held on Thursday and Friday from 2-4pm and 6:30-8:30pm at the Katz resident.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Elkan M. Katz Memorial Fund, and sent to The Jefferson Foundation, 925 Chestnut St. suite 110, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

From Linda

Elkan is resting quietly (on morphine) with little or no pain, and being taken care of by family, friends, and also the remarkable hospice folks.

It seems like we are getting near the end, so you might want to check here for a final post. We hope to have a memorial service instead of a funeral, and will send details via email and in that last post.

My love and thanks to all of you who have been following this (blog) journey.

   I thought I'd try again.with an entry. Steve and Sue Huntington came over today, and we talked a lot about politics.  Steve is working especially hard on the Obama Campaign.  It made me start thinking about the Romney prior year tax returns and really stimulated me just before bed.  I wish I could be compos for a day to research the issue and try  a letter to the editor, if appropriate, on whether there appears to be manipulation that the press hasn't been covering.  One of my problems is that I haven't been reading/watching any news for days so I have no idea how the issue has been covered. We'll have to see what tomorrow will bring.  
   Last night I thought I had slept through the night without getting up once but Linda had noticed that I had gone to the second  floor bathroom during the night even though going on the 3rd floor made much more sense.  (Bedroom on 3rd floor)  Who knows if there were anymore of these excursions?  My being unaware shows a  little how delusional I've become from taking the pills that control the pain..
   Even though I don't say much here, I've gotten Linda's approval to send the blog entry.
I had a good day with Rachel, Linda, and Lyla in my room most of the day and night.  Have a good weekend.

Elkan - 10:30 Saturday night.

He 's Back

     If anyone saw my attempts l to this far with this new blog, they would say my brain isn't back yet but that it's on the right track.  I've been wanting to blog for some time but have been too tired and out-of-touch to actually do one.  The many changes I've just had to make will be one of my own little unfunny secrets.
   First I want to thank everyone for their support and for their blog appreciation.  It hasn't been one of my  favorite roller coaster rides.
   About 2 weeks ago we decided that the new treatment trial at Georgetown held out the best hope in a new trial.  But then I progressively got sicker- more nausea, more tiredness and more pain  I'm often asked how I feel on a pain scale of one to ten but I always feel that's too subjective a measurement.  I had a brief encounter with a 10 pain in April 2011 after Yeo's pan can surgery when the the feeding tube was removed but the pain ended in much less than a minute.  I had been feeling for some time that the pain was increasing and that my body must be filling with cancer.   The doctors still felt that G-Town was my best approach and maybe only chance for a cure and would require a series of tests to even make it into the trial.
   My categorization of events is likely off greatly due to the effects of the medicines.
   I finally told Linda I wanted to drop future treatments.  After lots of consultation, she agreed that I couldn't survive additional treatment and it was time to find out about end of life care.  Linda did her usual extensive research and we decided to end the treatment.  Wynne, my GP whom I trust extensively also agreed.
   So now I am taking no more general relief pills but do take extensive pain relief pills, such as Dilaudid  and occasionally Percoset, and mostly per, Linda, Oxycontin which cause a lot delusions.  I no longer eat food or drink luiids and see a hospice care nurse at home..  As long as I take my pain pills
   I'm really struggling writing this blog entry.
  I had a wonderful day on Sept 15 when my college roommates visited form Cal., Fla. and NY.  I've had a lot of great visits from elsewhere.
   I have trouble wrapping my brain around the concept that I am making my own final decisions.
   I am disappointed in the quality of this blog and will allow Linda to make any amendments she feels are necessary.  My mind is really gone and I'm tired from having a lot of visitors today.  I should have just dictated to Linda or Rachel as they offered.  I have no idea when I will shut down completely but thought it would more fun blogging again.  It's amazing that so far without food and drink I'm actually feeling better than I was.

Elkan - Friday night - Hoping to blog again soon.

i

From Linda - an update

It is no longer possible to consider treatment, and Elkan and I have chosen to get home hospice care.  Things are fairly rough because the pills for pain cause hallucinations that are their own kind of pain - kind of bad dreams that are hard to end.

However, Elkan does have many lucid moments, and he is his same brave, funny, sweet, wonderful self, facing up to leaving with total courage and concern for the loving family he will leave behind.  (don't know why the font size changed or what to do about it - just another frustration among many).

If anyone wants to send a goodbye email to Elkan, now would be the time.  I want to thank all our good friends who have been so caring and concerned.

Linda

From Linda again

Lyla is 4 weeks old today, and as beautiful as ever.  She and her parents visited today.

There's a lot going on medically, but before that, Elkan and I want to say what a great weekend we had with his three college roommates:  Bob glickstein from Oakland, CA, Jeff Waranch from Naples, fL, and of course, Art Gurtman fro NYC ("the city").  We've been hearing from Bob and Jeff all along, and seeing Art and Judy and keeping in touch frequently.  elkan had a great, great time, and it was the best health he's had in month - including his only walk in weeks - being entertained by great Bob Glickstein stories.

all hell seems to be breaking loose now with pain, nausea, high blood pressure, dehydration, and extreme weight loss.  WE're trying lots of meds and treatments, trying to hold on until oct. 3 rd, when Elkan can get treatment at Georgetown.  There is still a chance he won't qualify for the trial because of kidney creatinine levels, but Eleanor (nurse practitioner with Dr. Littman) worked all day to set up six hours of IV to get his level down far enough for the Georgetown trial.

This is a long way of saying that there aren't too many choices left now, and the best thing Elkan can do is sleep and see me, Rachel, Dave and of course, Lyla.  The plan is to be in DC from Oct. 1-6 getting tests and treatment.  It's hard for Elkan to see anyone, so we will wait until after then.  You can call me, but no blog updates until then.

Love you all,
Linda