Hi everybody. This is my first post for a blog I set up to provide updates on Holly's progress. As many of you know, Holly had one of her swollen lymph nodes removed surgically to perform a pathology on it. There was concern that a needle aspiration style biopsy might miss some potentially problem cells, so this was considered to be the best approach.
The news I received from the surgeon was not what we had hoped. Initial visual inspection of the removed lymph node indicated a high probability of "some form of lymphoma". This was based on the surgeon's past experience and not as an oncologist which he is not. The lymph node was sent to a lab for a full pathology of the growth. He was 90% certain by his estimates.
Though this was bad news, it could have been much worse. Inspection of the rest of her throat area did not reveal anything else that was "telling". In other words, if he had seen tumors all over the place, that would have been bad obviously, and he did not see that.
What do we currently know? Well, not a whole lot, but on the positive side, initial blood work performed last week as well as chest X-ray and a head/neck CT scan didn't reveal anything alarming other than the swollen lymph nodes. Her health has been positive other than some weight loss, but this can be attributed to holiday and work stress. Her appetite hasn't really been diminished prior to this surgery and the stomach flu she had 3-4 days ago.
What's next? We need to wait until we get the full pathology of the lymph node to know exactly what it is. This week I will be reaching out to an oncologist. Ever resourceful, Kristin has a lead on an excellent person that specializes in lymphomas so he/she will be our prime target for care regardless of insurance coverage.
Thanks to all that have reached out with positive wishes and prayers. This blog is meant as a way for me to disseminate information to all of our friends and family with updates as we get them. Please check here to see if there are updates. I will update it as often as information is available. Its much easier to document information here than it is to talk about.
Holly and I have a positive attitude on her chances and will do whatever it takes. Thanks for all the support offered, it is so incredibly heartening to know that she has so many people that love her so much, though as anyone that knows her would admit, its not very surprising at all.
All the best.
Jeff
Jeff and Holly, I'm so sorry to hear you are going thru this. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Let Dave or I know if we can do anything at all to help. Our Best, Pat and Dave Schuppert
ReplyDeleteThanks Pat. Hopefully it will turn out to be a simple solution. Hoping for the best.
DeleteHolly, as you know you all are in our prayers. And I'm sorry, Jeff, but I don't think cheering for Tennessee will make Holly feel any better. :-p
ReplyDeleteGood luck and I have no doubt you two will come through this with flying colors. I am serious when I say to accept help when people offer it. When they say "What can we do to help?" you assign them a day you or Holly won't be able to cook to help with food that day. It is a long road and your friends will be glad to help you all they can. Please let them.
ReplyDeleteLet Holly and the girls know if they want to know about my experience with Lymphoma and what to expect, I will be glad to relay it to them. Staging is everything and from what you described, I can't imagine it being anything but Stage 1 or even 2 at worst.
Give those grand kids of yours a hug for me.