OK,
So here is the long awaited update. We have had a few major things hit our family pretty hard right here at the end of the year and it looks like 2010 will be a long rough year as well. I figured the best way to convey what has happened is by letting my dad tell the story which he did through an email to our close family and friends:
Beth had surgery for a subcutaneous cyst Monday before Christmas. Late Wednesday the surgeon called and informed us it was not a cyst. It was a B-Cell Lymphoma (http://www.lymphomainfo.net/nhl/b-cell.html). The tumor was slightly smaller than a golf ball.
On the positive side, with Beth working on the Oncology/Orthopedics floor at Wake Med she was able to reach out to an Oncologist she is most impressed with. They chatted Saturday morning and he said it was fine to make our trip to Baltimore to be with family.
We went to Baltimore; but by Sunday morning Beth was having extreme difficulty breathing. We had to have EMS take her to Carroll County Hospital Center in Westminster, MD.
To make a long story short, she has blood clots in both her lungs and in her left leg (Bi-Lateral Pulmonary Embolism and a Deep Vein Thrombosis in the lower left extremity). They are pumping her full of Heparin to dissolve the clots and thin her blood. There are multiple possible reasons for the clots including a downstream effect from the Lymphoma. However, no one seems sure how we got where we are and they are just trying to get her blood and pulmonary function back to a therapeutic level. That is a good thing because she could not walk 10 feet before she was totally out of breath and her heart rate spiking.
So with that being said it is now New Years Day and she has still not been released from the hospital. We are currently expecting her to be released sometime early next week. Once she returns we begin to meet with oncologists and others to figure out exactly what to do next. In the mean time we appreciate all of the thoughts, prayers and help from all of our friends and family.
-Brent