Monday, April 10, 2006

Latest News

News from this past weekend. We got the news on Friday, and Mom had a lot of visitors this weekend. We got a lot of news, which clarified some earlier issues.

There is a tumor in her left lung which has closed off the windpipe, and the lung collapsed as a result. This made it difficult to determine how big the tumor is at this point. We heard yesterday that it is a non-small cell lung cancer, which is the type which is supposed to be slower to spread, but it's still questionable as to whether or not it has.

There is fluid around the lung which is not typically present, and there is a separate growth on her adrenale gland. Each of these things could be unrelated, or they could also be cancerous. Mom is having both of these tested today. They will be drawing fluid from the lung, and performing a biopsy of the growth on the adrenale gland.

We're hoping that these both come back as negative, which will mean that the cancer has not spread beyond the lung. If not, then it sounds like they plan to do a radiation treatment to reduce the size of the tumor to allow air into the lung. This will reduce the chance of pneumonia developing and allow them a better view of how big it is.

They will then proceed with removing the one or both lobes of the left lung. She has been breathing with one lung all week and by this past weekend, her body has seemed to adapt well, and her pulse ox was normal with no supplemental oxygen and just one lung!

If the cancer has spread, then they will proceed with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy.

The results of today's tests should be available by Wednesday and that will outline what the next steps are.

Please keep her in your prayers and we'll hope for the absolute best. She is determined to beat this and will need lots of support to do so.

Love

Craig

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