One Step Forward...

Two steps back...Mom's visit at the doctor didn't exactly excite us, and it did, in a word, disappoint.

We got the PET scan test results back which were as inconclusive as you can get. Not only do her doctors not have a diagnosis for her, but they can't even really pinpoint the problem.

It might be an infection, it might be cancer, it might be damage from the radiation. They called it "activity".

My immediate reaction was (and is to most things) "So, what are we going to do about it?". The answer is, she is going in to Sioux Falls for a Bronchoscopy.

What is a Bronchoscopy? Good thing you asked, because I really didn't have much of a clue. Directly from Wikipedia here it is...

"Bronchoscopy is a technique of visualizing the inside of the airways for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. An instrument (bronchoscope) is inserted into the airways, usually through the nose or mouth, or occasionally through a tracheostomy. This allows the practitioner to examine the patients airways for abnormalities such as foreign bodies, bleeding, tumors or inflammation. Specimens bay be taken from inside the lungs. The construction of bronsoscopes ranges from rigid metal tubes with attached lighting devices to flexible optical fiber instruments with realtime video equipment."

So, needless to say we're a little discouraged... one step forward... two steps back. We're sad, frustrated, discouraged, and scared. Your prayers while Mom pre pairs and goes through with this process would be appreciated!

As always, we'll keep you posted.

All my Love,

-A

Prayers Please

Hello Readers!
I just wanted to put a quick prayer request out for my Mom's neighbor Norm. He is one of the best neighbor's in the world, he keeps track of our family and helps out whenever he can. Often you'll find Norm scooping the snow off the sidewalks in the winter time, mowing the lawn in the summer time and cussing at thoes 'damn leaves' in the fall.

Yesterday, Norm was diagnosed with Prostate cancer to add to the number of health issues he already deals with on a daily basis (he's diabetic).

Please say an extra prayer for Norm and join his fight!

All my Love,

-a

Inbetween

We were hoping to walk out of the PET (Not CAT .. my bad) scan doing the happy dance, we didn't get bad news, but not necessarily anything to dance out of the clinic with either.

Mom's cancer is looking much better, what the doctor was more concerned with was her bone marrow activity. They will be running a MRI tomorrow to take a closer look at it but Dr. McHale is pretty sure it's not cancerous. Nurse Shannon thinks it's probably the marrow working on growing new healthy cells for her body. But the MRI will tell more, and she has another appointment with Dr. McHale next Thursday.

Keep the good thoughts and prayers coming!

Love, Abby

Why My Sister is a nurse...

Hey Ab! Read the blog, and thought it is great. Just wanted to correct you on a couple of terms ;). The spot in her lung is a mass (not mast). It is putting pressure on her pulmonary artery, not the ventricles. The pulmonary artery carries blood from the heart to the lungs. It is also putting pressure on her airway, which narrows it causing shortness of breath and increased risk for infection like pneumonia. The full body scan that she is having on Mon is a PET scan. They inject a kind of radioactive sugar into your blood stream and cancer cells metabolize sugar faster than healthy cells. So when they do the scan, all of the cancer cells in her body will glow on the scan. So then they will know exactly where all the cancer is. Thanks for doing the blog. I Love You! Shannon


I was serriously laughing OUT LOUD when I read this... it's so me to screw something like this up... see... told you I'd miss some things, this is why i'm counting on others to keep me on track... so I'll correct my other post... but for now just read this... :) Thank you Sis I love you.

What's Wrong with Dianne?

So, I realized that I should probably post some sort of a report, for those of you who are signing in and saying “What’s wrong with Dianne?”.

Last week, Mom went to the doctor. There was a lump on her throat (a swollen Lymph node) and she was having pain in the left side of her body. The Doctor took an x-ray saw spots in her left lung and ordered a CTSCAN of her torso, and a biopsy of the lymph node.

The CTSCAN found a mass in her Left lung that is putting pressure on nerves and her ventricles in her heart, that mast is cancer. The biopsy just confirmed what the CTSCAN had found.

She visited Dr. McHale of the McHale Institute in Sioux Falls and his plan of action for her is Radiation on the mass in her lung. He also discovered a possible spot on her liver which he ordered a PETSCAN of her entire body. After Radiation of the mast in her lung they will start rounds of Chemotherapy.

So there’s the diagnosis, prognosis and plan of action… or something like that – at least we’re all on the same page now.

If you’d like to be a guest blogger on this blog and share your side of the story please let me know, I can make that happen!
All the love in the Universe, Abby Ronnebeck.