Post 1

Hello Family,

I was hoping this blog would keep everyone up to date with what is going on with my Mom, Ronnah.

Mom has most recently been sick with what we thought was a stubborn tooth infection. Over the past six weeks she had been given different antibiotics to try and get rid of the infection, which was in her ear, her sinus, down her neck, puffed up her face and had locked up her jaw.

She made an appointment with the oral surgeon to get her tooth pulled. But while the doctor was doing the pre-surgery inspection the doctor saw a red bump on the roof of her mouth. They opted to hold off on pulling the tooth until they could ask the Ear Nose and Throat doctor what the soar was. (The oral surgeon said you can’t put a tooth back in very easily haha).

She went to the ENT and he did not know what the lump was either. To be on the safe side he gave Mom antibiotics to see if it was just a stubborn infection in the pocket of her cheek that would go away on its own before he started punching holes in the roof of her mouth to take a biopsy. When the lump did not go away after 4 weeks of antibiotics, they decided to go ahead and take a biopsy. The first biopsy came back as lymphoma but they did not have enough of the tissue sample to determine what type of lymphoma it was (there are about 70). There are different types of treatments for the different types of lymphoma. Some include new kinds of medications, some include chemotherapy, some include radiation, some include bone marrow transplants and some include a combination of treatments.

They took a second biopsy and that sample was incorrectly preserved in a solution until they could look at it under the microscope. The biopsy was supposed to be kept dry and alive so they could split the cells and see how they reacted. They ended up taking a third biopsy and it was immediately walked over to the lab by hand to verify that it was the correct kind of sample they wanted. Next Tuesday, they should find out the results.

This week they have been taking a bunch of tests to determine a base line for her to start from. Monday morning she met her new Oncologist, Monday afternoon she had a tube put in her ear to drain the fluid remaining from the infection so that it would not compound the nausea or the dizziness from the chemo. Tuesday, Mom had a bone marrow biopsy removed from each hip to get a better baseline, then she had to put her buns on ice for a couple of days. Yesterday she had to get a echocardiogram to get a baseline for her heart Function. Then she had to meet her new “port” doctor. I am not sure what kind of doctor he is other than a surgeon.

The tests will help to determine exactly what type and stage of lymphoma she has and where it is located. The lymph nodes are located through your body and lymphoma tends to gather in those sites. But Mom’s was on the roof of her mouth, which threw everyone off.

Today, September 14, 2012, Mom received a PET scan where they put a radioactive dye in your blood stream and then take pictures of where it ponds up. The radioactive material usually lights up the picture where infection or cancer cells are located.

On Monday, she has an appt. to get her port put in. The port is shown below in a diagram. The port will be put in under her skin near her collar bone and will be a used to deliver chemo to her body without having to constantly put needles into her veins. It will preserve her veins. They will also give blood, take blood, and give antibiotics or anything that is usually injected into her veins through the port. (The doctor says it is very convenient to have one, and that a lot of his patients after they get done with their treatments just keep them in).

On Tuesday, Mom will go to the Oncologist again and get the results of her third biopsy, PET scan, bone marrow biopsy and lay out a plan for her treatment.

I will update again next week, thank you so much everyone for your love, prayers, and support!!

Love, Keah