What prompted me to write in this blog again was my daughter Dina.
If you may remember back in 2011 she was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma and proceeded to have chemo. She ended her chemo in February of 2012, it took several more months for the last bit of cancer to leave her spleen, then she was considered cancer free.
This last spring she discovered she had a hernia by her belly button, it was fairly small and not necessary to remove it, but she noticed when she got a cold and coughed it really did hurt, so she decided it would be best to have it removed. She scheduled the surgery for December 12.
About the first of November both of her ankles got very swollen, she saw her doctor and he diagnosed Achilles tendonitis and he referred her for some PT.
That didn't help a lot, so he gave her prednisone for 5 days and thought she should see a rheumatologist even though her blood work came back negative. The prednisone really helped take care of the inflammation. The rheumatologist diagnosed her with Psoriatic Arthritis. The doctor gave her a prescription for prednisone to have available if she had another flare up.
The two drugs that are often used for this arthritis has side effects and they say "May cause Lymphoma"!! NO WAY was she going to use that drug, she said she would rather have swollen joints! But when she took the prednisone, she had to postpone her hernia surgery.
Throughout the fall months her stomach was bothering her a little bit, some days not at all, others a little bit more. She thought it was probably the hernia and was thinking she needed to reschedule for the surgery. However the day after Christmas she had severe stomach pain that doubled her over and had her in tears. She went to the ER and they did a CT scan and the ER doctor told her it looked like a recurrence of cancer. Her stomach lining was all inflamed and she had enlarged lymph nodes. That sent her into a real tailspin and she was in tears for days. Her oncologist wanted to have a PET scan and that took 8 days to get scheduled. The PET scan showed the cancer is back. It looked like a mass in her stomach, but it was actually several lymph nodes clustered together. She has another spot under her left arm and it is deeper into her body. Today she consulted with a doctor to have a biopsy and remove the hernia. The doctor assured her that it would be a pretty normal procedure, she should be able to leave the same day, which is next Tuesday January 8th. Unless she has a 'bleeder', then they would keep her to monitor her. Her oncologist told her this would be a harder chemo than the last time, and he knew last time it kicked her butt (his words!). He was shocked that the cancer came back. It usually takes 10 days for the pathologist to get word back to the doctor so a treatment can be put in place. She is guessing with all the other protocol to follow, it may take 4-6 weeks before she can start her chemo. She kept this from her kids until she knew conclusively that the cancer has returned. She just told them on Thursday Jan 3rd. They are ready to support their "Mama" and help her "kick cancer's butt" (their words!).
I know this is going to be really hard on her and yes she is strong and is ready to fight this, but I sure remember how awful she felt, how nauseous she got and how the first week after chemo she was mostly in bed. She had chemo every three weeks. We don't know yet how long she will be doing chemo. I just wanted to ask for prayers for her to have the strength to get though this, to fight it and to remain positive. The has been hard on Jamie as well, he is doing what he does best: calling in favors with doctor friends to do everything they can for her and to do it quickly. They have come through for him, but he is a mess emotionally just as much as Dina is. Please keep the whole family in your prayers and for Dina to have a complete cure this time and to know that she is not walking alone. We are trusting God and His plan and praying that she can get back into remission.
This was the main story I wanted to share today, it will be 7 years in February that she completed her chemo and we are all heart broken that it has come back.
While I am here I will share a few pictures of the family from this past year:
How about celebrating my Dad's 97 th birthday at Ellie's last home volleyball match?
All the seniors were honored on this night and family members were called out to join her on the court.
We had to get a picture with the two girls ! Look how tall my little Lily is?
And here is the birthday boy with his great granddaughters. He was announced to the crowd as celebrating his 97th birthday...I don't think he heard it or understood what was being said.
Ellie was honored as the Player of the Year for the Three River's League.
The team made it to state and ended up in third place.
Ellie received first Team All Tournament.
And she also was honored with being one of 5 for FIRST TEAM ALL STATE.
She has a scholarship to play at Portland State University in the fall!
