I hope this is the last update concerning the strange journey I have been on the last few months. Rogers took me to see the oncology surgeon, Dr. Martin Flemming, yesterday and he said I am progressing well. He asked if my ears were burning last week because he had presented my 'case' at an oncology seminar. He presented me as 'The person who did not have cancer but had all the symptoms' to over one hundred doctors. No one had a clue...but I do!!! Your concern, care and most of all your prayers had a very positive influence on the outcome! Thank the Lord for answered prayers.

This has been a very humbling experience. I did not know all of 'what could have been' until this was over. I have truly been given a wonderful gift. Also, your cards, phone calls, messages, food, etc. have been amazing and very much appreciated. We all have such busy lives and it seems we sometimes don't take the time to let each other know that we care but when it counts the most we are there for each other. Thank you for being there.

A very big thank you to my precious husband, Rog. The blog was such a good idea and he did a great job of keeping everyone informed. I enjoyed going back and reading all of the comments. He stayed in the hospital with me for four nights sleeping in a pull out chair and made sure I was comfortable and well taken care of. He has also done a very good job since I have been home. He is truly my earth angel.

I go to the oncologist on the 9th and we will see if there is anything left to do but I not expecting any big surprises. I am scheduled to go back to work on the 14th.

Once again thank you for all you have done. I hope your holiday season is just what you want it to be. I hope you are surrounded by family and good friends and remember all you have to be thankful for. I have a few things to add to my list. God bless you.

Home!

Lynn got home from the hospital around 2 pm this afternoon.

The MIBG nuclear scan completed this morning was negative, as anticipated. Good news. This scan was done to eliminate the possibility of very small tumors in the ambomen. Lynn is a bit worn out given she was uncomfortable while strapped down during the scan for an hour and a half.

Lynn is very happy to be home. We both appreciate all your help, encouragement and prayers.

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Doctor's visit

The doctor was able to make his rounds about 9:30 pm.  Lynn's test will be performed around 9 or 10 am in the morning.  The doctor said she will be able to go home tomorrow.  He also said she can't lift anything heavy for 6 weeks and will need to be evaluated in about 1-2 weeks to assess when she can return to a normal daily schedule.

Tuesday evening

In addition to completing the first nuclear scan today, PT came and walked Lynn down the hall. She has to walk after every meal. Lynn hasn't been eating enough and has been given liquid supplements today.

The nursing staff anticipates Lynn will be discharged sometime after the last scan tomorrow. The doctor was unable to make his rounds here today due to an emergency elsewhere so will know with certainty tomorrow.

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Glowing in the dark ;-)

The nuclear scan (MIBG) is scheduled for 2:30pm today. This test is geared toward identifying very fine grain tumors.

The scan is done in two phases. A second, comparative scan will be done tomorrow morning. We didn't know this detail until today. The doctor anticipates the scan(s) will be negative and is just part of ruling out this chance.

Lynn continues to feel better each day.

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Wonderful Progress

The nursing staff has done an excellent job today--lots of progress.  We believe the doctor will be pleased when he makes his rounds.  Lynn will likely meet his criteria for discharge tomorrow.  Everything was disconnected today (drip, morphine PCA device, and oxygen).  And she received her last Heparin (anticoagulant) shot tonight, which has been administered to areas near the incision 3 times per day.  That's enough to make one feel better!  Very little walking today.  Lynn spent most of the day in bed likely because the "extra good stuff" was disconnected.

More blood tests were performed today.  The results from this and similar tests over the weekend will not be known until the end of the week at the earliest.  During the day, Lynn started receiving treatments in preparation for the nuclear scan planned for tomorrow.

Lynn resumed giving me instructions today, a welcomed change.  The task for today was to pick up Abby and Lucy (our miniature, red, long hair dachshunds).  They were boarded at Forest Hill Animal Hospital (these guys are great) and Lynn wants to see them as soon as she arrives at home.

Monday morning

The doctor visited this morning.  Lynn is doing well.  The nurses are going to remove the morphine pump today and transition completely to pill-based pain management.  The nuclear scan is planned for tomorrow.  Some additional items planned today to assist in meeting discharge criteria set by the doctor.  If all goes well, there is hope she will get to go home tomorrow at the earliest.

Thanks for your notes of encouragement!

Walking down the hallway

Lynn had a good day today.  Mornings have been a challenge but it seems to get better as the day goes along.  She was able to get out of the bed without assistance and even walked a short distance down the hallway.  There is determination to get out of the hospital.  Her "systems" haven't resumed normal operation yet but there are signs they might be starting back up.  Also, the doctors have started cutting back morphine and are switching to pill-based pain management which is a good.

Lynn is feeling pretty good tonight--so much so that she said she didn't need me to stay with her tonight.  It makes me wonder if she will call a taxi and break out tonight.

Thanks to our wonderful friends and family, we got the essential furniture moved back downstairs, which was emptied months ago for work to be done on our house.  And to the contractor for working overtime.  It made her very happy to know she will not have to endure climbing the stairs when she gets home.

Lynn's Saturday (and the Rebs pounded the Vols!!)

Lynn had another pretty good day.  And a small part of it might have been because she enjoyed watching the Rebels win on TV!

Today, some concern expressed with Lynn's incision.  It is more than likely okay but they are going to monitor it.  Lynn has gotten strength back in her voice, color back in her face, and pain is manageable.  She turned in early tonight despite napping on and off all day.  Lynn started talking about wanting to get out of here.  She thinks her systems might be starting to wake up which is one of the objectives she has to meet (my understanding is the surgeon paralyzed a number of organs to perform surgery).  The nuclear scan hasn't been performed yet.

Friends and family are going to help move some of the furniture back downstairs tomorrow.  The painting was completed late last week and all of the flooring downstairs will be ready to walk on starting tomorrow.  Hurrying to get things ready downstairs especially if Lynn comes home early!

End of a good day

Overall Lynn had a good day.  Pain is more tolerable compared to yesterday and she was more alert.  The temperature has gone down.  She was able to eat more solid food.  Progress!

Doctor from West Clinic visited today.  He plans to conduct a few more tests while Lynn is here, including a special nuclear medicine scan whose name escapes me.  This is of interest because of irregularities in Lynn's blood/urology tests performed on numerous occasions since August.  This scan will confirm no small tumors exist in her abdomen and rule this out as a cause.  These would be tumors smaller than what could have been detected through CT, Ultrasound, and surgical inspection.  The doctor expects the scan to be negative.

In the hallway, I had some interesting discussions with a number of nurses today and received more insight on what the Whipple Procedure would have been like to recover from--so relieved it wasn't necessary!  The good people that work on the Surgical Oncology wing really cling to "good news" as was evident again today.  On Wednesday when Lynn came out of recovery, practically every nurse on the floor was at the door of her room when she arrived.  A nurse said a good outcome like Lynn's is rare in their area.  A war is waged with cancer on an every-hour basis here.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  Lynn has enjoyed hearing from you (I have too).  Big game tomorrow....Forward Rebels!

Feeling Better

Lynn had a very good night!  She slept almost the entire night.  Lynn can start eating soft/solid foods today so hopefully that will make her feel stronger.  From the looks of breakfast, her appetite is back.  Looks like it will be a good day.

The doctor made his morning rounds.  He mentioned Lynn's "systems" (and that's not computer systems :^) would need to wake-up before she could leave the hospital.  He said normally it takes 5-7 days but mentioned everyone is different--some people are out in 3-4 days.

Tonight...

The surgeon made his evening rounds and spoke to Lynn around 9:00 pm.  He explained the "mass" appearing on the CT Scan was an abnormal bulge in lower part of the stomach plus excessive scar tissue pressing on the area from a prior operation to remove her gall bladder.  The surgeon removed the scar tissue yesterday.

A gastroenterologist did view this area as part of the multitude of tests Lynn went through.  The doctor explained this would not have been visible given how the stomach, etc. expands when filled (with air?) during the procedure.  This is done in order for the doctor to be able to see with the scope.

Lynn is running 101' temperature (since late afternoon).  Blood work is planned in the morning.  The doctor said elevated temperature is typical within 48 hours of surgery and said it is too early to have any concern regarding infection.

The surgeon plans to speak with the doctor at West Clinic tomorrow.  Additional work to understand questionable items in prior lab results won't be done until after Lynn recovers.

Pain management activity all day--mostly under control now.  In addition to the pump, 4 booster rounds of the extra good stuff during the day.

Doctor visit soon

Plan to post info from doctor's visit as soon as Lynn sees him...she has been jacked up on morphine all day. Resident doctor was here this morning...

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Another round

The nurse is here with another round of the extra good stuff. In addition to the morph pump.

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Overnight

Lynn has been very quiet ever since she arrived in her room, drifting in and out of sleep.  She was complaining of pain around 3:30am.  The nurses did their magic and she is some better now.  Ice cubes are like chocolate.

Resting....

Lynn made it to her REGULAR room.  This is a far better arrangement than where the doctor thought she would be tonight!

She is in and out of sleep.  She has been asking for details about the outcome.  And is confused how it turned out so well; however, little does she know she's on the same page as we are.

The 7-minute-interval morphine pump will come in handy tonight.

Lots of prayers answered today.

Surgery is complete - GREAT NEWS

Spoke with the surgeon around 4:00.  Received "better than the best" identified outcome!  I think everyone, including the surgeon, is surprised and elated.

Short version...

• No mass, No tumor, and NO chance of cancer!
• 3-4 days minimum in hospital to recover
• About 8-10 inch incision (morphine will help :-)
  

Long(er) version...

Surgeon characterized Lynn's condition as unique/strange.  The first phase of the procedure was exploratory in nature to understand the exact location of the mass and to do a biopsy.  When the surgeon got to the location the CT identified as the mass, the doctors were perplexed.  There was not a mass present.

As it turns out Lynn's stomach has a bulge where the stomach meets the duodenum.  Given the CT Scan and Lynn's symptoms (high serotonin and adrenaline, sudden elevated BP, flushing, etc., etc.), the surgeon said a lot of time was spent confirming there was not a Carcinoid anywhere in her abdomen.  The head radiologist was called to assist and additional scans were performed in the OR.  Also a conference call with doctors/radiologist at West Clinic along with re-review of prior test results were all performed from the OR.  A lot of time and care was spent confirming there was not a mass but rather a stomach abnormality.  The doctors were especially cautious given a CT Scan one year ago did not show anything at all in this area.

Lynn is presently in recovery.  While it seems there is more work to do in order to get to the bottom of the mystery this all takes a back seat to the news of Lynn not having an opportunity for a cancerous condition!

Thanks for all your calls, notes of encouragement, and prayers today.  And thanks to the two people that dropped pennies I found on separate occasions this morning :^).

Second update

Operation is still in progress; Lynn is doing fine. Nurse will call again in an hour.

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First update from nurse

The nurse said Lynn was put under without any complication. Surgeon starting. Another update in about an hour.

Methodist University

Lynn had a difficult night....but mentioned if she didn't feel bad she would be worrying. Now that's trying to find something good :-)

She is at Methodist University and is being prepped. Surgery is planned for noon. An exploratory procedure will be done first including biopsy--this will determine the plan. The doctor estimates surgery will last anywhere from 3 to 8 hours depending on what they find.

Thanks for everyone's notes and prayers.

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Thanks to everyone for all their prayers and encouragement. I am packing my bag for in the morning. Getting a little anxious but am amazingly calm at the same time. Must be all the love I am feeling! Love you all and Rog will keep you posted tomorrow.

It all started with an earache?!!

You might have heard it all started with a quick trip to the minor medical clinic a month or so ago.

Lynn stopped by the minor medical after work seeking relief from an earache. As standard course the nurse took her blood pressure and found it to be quite elevated. This was pretty unusual as she has always had perfect blood pressure. As a result, no medication could be prescribed.

This promptly led to a Saturday visit to her physician at Wolf River Medical Group (these guys are awesome). Concerned a sudden onset of high blood pressure is a secondary condition, her doctor ordered a series of tests which eventually led to an octreotide scan at Methodist Germantown. Even though the scan turned up negative, her doctor remained concerned and Lynn was referred to West Clinic. Within 24 hours an Oncologist at West Clinic, through a CT scan with contrast, found a tumor in her abdomen. We later learned an octreotide scan isn't completely accurate.

In consulting with an Oncologist Surgeon, who in collaboration with her Oncologist, worked to narrow down the type of tumor given symptoms and levels of adrenaline found in the tests. Luckily through additional testing, it was determined she does not have a Pheochromocytoma. This is good news given this type tumor emits adrenaline which can cause blood pressure to shoot up to dangerous levels during an operation. The doctors believe it is a Carcinoid Neuroendocrine tumor.

Lynn is scheduled to have surgery mid-day on Wednesday, November 11, to remove the 5 cm mass. The challenge is the tumor is in the area of the duodenum. The surgeon says it is located among "pricey real estate" given close proximity to where the stomach, liver, gall bladder, and pancreas come together at the small intestine. The extent of the operation can't be known beforehand. Hopefully it will be a "simple" extraction. There is a chance a Whipple Procedure will be required. One doctor estimates 90% chance while the surgeon belives it is more like 50% chance this will be needed. If needed, Lynn's surgeon has performed 100s of these type of operations successfully.

We are hoping and praying this will be a simple procedure. And we thank everyone for all your encouraging words and prayers.

Updates will be posted here over the coming weeks as a convenient way to keep in touch.