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Jeff’s Journey, Millers Creek, NC (2025)

07/07/2025

It’s time for the next set of Rituximab infusions. Jeff has been doing pretty good these last 6 months. So far, he is responding well to this treatment. His second infusion of this set will be in a couple weeks then he will have the next MRI of his brain. The last MRI did not show any improvements but did not show any worsening. We take that as improvement. 😊
The doctor said he will go by Jeff’s symptoms and blood work for signs that this treatment for his IgG4 is working. We are trusting God and His healing also.

Thank you all for still following Jeff’s Journey. Hopefully by us sharing this, it will help someone else who is experiencing this same autoimmune disorder. It is rare (1 in 100,00) but we feel if just one person battling this gets help from Jeff’s Journey then sharing is worth it.

God Bless you all. We will update again after the next MRI.

11/06/2024

It has been a long 5 1/2 weeks for Jeff. On September 30th while helping clean up a tree that fell on his sister’s house during the hurricane, Jeff fell off his dump truck approximately 10-12 feet and broke his ankle and the bottom of his leg at the fibula. Praise God he did not end up having to have surgery even though they told us this type of break usually requires surgery after the swelling goes down. Jeff has spent the last 4 weeks in a cast. Today he graduated to the walking boot. Needless to say, he still has pain and some swelling but for the most part he is healing well. Just in time for his quarterly MRI and neuro oncology appointment this coming Friday. Now we get to see where his IgG4 (his autoimmune disease) is and to see if the Rituximab treatments are helping his brain. This current IgG4 related disease is called pachy meningitis and had completely surrounded his brain with inflammation. We know his IgG4 level came down from 290 to 161. The normal range is from 2-96 so he is still high but it looks like the treatments are helping. The MRI should show improvement as well. Please join me as we praise God for all the healing He is already doing in Jeff’s body and ask God to continue to heal Jeff. As always, we appreciate all the calls, text and prayers! Much love to you all!

08/20/2024

This is how Jeff relaxes on vacation…😁. He is having a good day and we are so thankful for the good days. The IgG4 is hopefully starting to respond to treatment. We will not know for sure until his next visit in October but we are trusting and believing in God’s healing.

08/04/2024

Update 08/04/2024
Jeff only had to stay overnight at the hospital…praise God! He is feeling better today. His lactic acid is back to normal 2.0. The MRI showed stable from previous MRI in June so no new or worsening inflammation however it does not show if the treatments are working to reduce the dura matter thickening yet. But he is only a few weeks into this treatment so no worsening is good news to me.
Jeff has an already scheduled appointment with the neurologist this coming Friday so I am sure we will know more then. Thank you for the prayers and please keep them coming.
Also, please continue to share this page so we can get more people praying for Jeff! 🥰

08/04/2024

Prayers for Jeff would be greatly appreciated. He did really good with his treatment yesterday and had a relaxing evening last night.
This morning around 11am Jeff suddenly started feeling dizzy and started vomiting for no apparent reason. He was brought to the ER and has been admitted to the hospital in the telemetry unit. They were able to give him some really strong nausea medicine that did stop him from vomiting. His Lactic Acid was at 4.7 which is critically high but after IV fluids it came down to 2.9. That is high also but the doctor said vomiting can cause increased lactic acid. They believe that will continue to go back to normal with the IV fluids.
They did a repeat MRI because of the sudden occurrence of the dizziness and vomiting to rule out a stroke. Those results are back and from what I can make of them, it doesn’t appear to be a stroke but rather another complication of his IgG4 autoimmune disease. The ER doctor consulted with the on call rheumatologist to see if this was a reaction from his Rituximab treatment from yesterday. They said that it is not. After consulting with the on call neurologist, it was decided to admit to the hospital and do another MRI.
Please pray for complete healing of Jeff’s brain. Please pray the IgG4 will start responding to the treatment he has been given. Please pray God will give Jeff back his health. 🙏🙏🙏

08/02/2024

Good Morning family and friends, if you would, please lift Jeff up in prayer this morning as he is fixing to get his second treatment of Rituximab. Pray he doesn’t have another reaction to this treatment and if he does that it is not severe. He has been on oral antihistamines that has been helping him since his last treatment. Also pray this treatment is working for him. He gets a new MRI and sees his oncology neurologist next Friday to see the progress of the treatments.
Hope everyone has a blessed day!

07/19/2024

Treatment day for Jeff. Please lift him up in prayer that this IV immunotherapy treatment (Rituximab) will help his autoimmune disease. He needs this inflammation that is completely wrapped around his brain to resolve. We love you all and appreciate all the support.

07/09/2024

Jeff saw his rheumatologist yesterday and signed forms for the new IV infusions of Rituximab for his IgG4. It is an infusion that is given to a lot of cancer patients but shows promising in some auto immune diseases like Jeff’s IgG4. They had to get these infusions approved by insurance. That got done today. More labs were drawn here at the local hospital by request of the insurance company. He has two doctor's appointments tomorrow. One with the heart doctor and one with ENT. He will start his infusions next week on Friday in Winston Salem at the Cancer Center. Then his second infusion will be two weeks later on August 2nd. His neurologist will be doing a follow up MRI on August 9th to see if everything is going in the right direction. We need the inflammation that is wrapped around his brain to be clearing up. He got three full days of 1000 mg IV steroids last week in the hospital to get a jump start on this inflammation. They said the Rituximab infusions will take about three months to really starting working on his IgG4. This will be the immunotherapy infusions he will most likely be getting for the rest of his life about every six months. It is a promising treatment for IgG4 to help keep his IgG4 from attacking his body.

Jeff is doing pretty good with all this since his headaches have stopped. He is quite tired but he is trying to keep going. He is definitely not a quitter. Once these treatments start working in his body, he is determined to get back to trucking. It is what he loves to do. I pray he can get back to living a full life without so much pain and discomfort. I am leaving that in God’s hands.

Please keep the prayers coming. We appreciate them! I’ll update again once he starts his treatments.

Be blessed!!!!

07/05/2024

Jeff is home!!! Yay!
He busted out of the hospital just after noon today and we went straight to eat lunch. See the pictures…this is where he wanted to eat 😁.

He has three doctors appointments scheduled so far for next week…Monday with rheumatologist, Tuesday with P*P and Wednesday with the heart doctor in Wilkes. On the good side of news, he still doesn’t have a headache. He said he didn’t know what to do with no headache. God is so Good!!!!
We will update next week after the appointments. We should find out when he will start his weekly IV infusions of Rituximab to be an ongoing treatment for his IgG4.
We really do appreciate all the prayers and ask you to please continue praying. 🙏

07/04/2024

Jeff’s Journey Update:

Hello to you all. Happy Fourth of July 🇺🇸.

Just a quick update on Jeff. This is Jeff’s third day in the hospital. He has now had his fourth IV steroid treatment and so far he is doing really well. He is getting 500 mg twice daily for a total of six treatments. His glucose levels are high like we expected but they are managing them fairly well here with long acting and short acting insulin. His appetite is good (thank steroids 🤣). The best part so far is he said he doesn't feel any headache. Praise God 🙌. It looks like the steroids are doing what they need to do.
So what next? The plan is for Jeff to get his IV steroids tonight and again in the morning then be discharged home sometime tomorrow after all treatment has been completed. His rheumatologist called him late yesterday and is going to work Jeff in for an appointment with her on Monday at 4pm. She will get started on his next plan of care which is to start him on a weekly IV infusion of Rituximab for four weeks. This is a medication commonly used in cancer patients but has shown great results in patients with IgG4. She said Jeff will most likely have to have routine treatments of the Rituximab the rest of his life because his IgG4 has shown how aggressive it is and it needs to be managed as aggressively as it is.

Jeff and I want you all to know how much we appreciate each of you. We appreciate the continued prayers. We also appreciate the calls/text. We have seen God's grace in each of you also because you have reached out with your concerns and you have prayed for healing. We see God moving in Jeff’s healing already.
I will update again when Jeff gets home.

Side note, Jeff is apologizing in advance if he seems extra ill and short tempered with anyone when he gets home as these steroids have that type of side effect on him. Pray for me also because ...whew! 🥺

Be safe and have a Happy Fourth of July!

07/02/2024

Jeff has finally gotten a bed here at Baptist. A couple of doctors have come in and went over his last two years journey with the IgG4 and did a quick evaluation on him. They are fixing to have a team meeting to discuss what is the best plan of care during his stay here at the hospital. We will update as we know more.
We have had so many of you to reach out to us and ask how you can help. Prayers!!! That’s what we need…that’s what Jeff needs!
Thank you all for the prayers already.
Be blessed!!!!

07/02/2024

Just a quick update on Jeff.
He got to see the neuro oncologist last Friday. All the results from his most recent labs and the lumbar puncture are finally in and the doctor does believe this is all coming from Jeff’s autoimmune disease (IgG4). The inflammation has completely surrounded his brain. He needs treatment soon. As much as Jeff doesn’t want steroids because how he responded last time, it is the first course of treatment to get a much needed jump start on clearing this inflammation this time. The doctor feels it is best to treat Jeff inpatient with IV steroids …1000 mg daily for three days so they can monitor his diabetes and help control his glucose. Right now Jeff is waiting for Wake Forest Baptist Hospital to call and tell him they have a bed ready for him. They said it would be today but here we are still waiting and it is almost midnight. Jeff has decided to get some sleep and we will leave when we get the call.
He will be at the Comprehensive Cancer Center in Winston Salem. (Dr. Strowd does not believe there is any cancer)
After his IV steroids, he will discharge home and then his rheumatologist will begin weekly IV infusions of Rituximab for four weeks. This is a promising new treatment for IgG4. Please be in prayer for a complete remission. He is so tired of the headaches. He needs healing. We know God can and will heal him.
We love you all and we appreciate the calls and text from everyone checking on him. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives.
I’ll update when he gets admitted.
Have a good night and be blessed!

Jeff’s Journey

07/07/2025

11/06/2024

08/20/2024

08/04/2024

08/04/2024

08/02/2024

07/19/2024

07/09/2024

07/05/2024

07/04/2024

07/02/2024

07/02/2024

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