Lymphoma?

Well a lot has happened these last few weeks and I left out some things that are important for you to know. 

First of all, last Wednesday they put Tracy on what they call TPN.  TPN to me is Total Protein and Nutrients and they utilize the PICC line, that is a permanent IV.  We were so glad to start it, as Tracy was not eating much. 

The second thing was a procedure called EGD.  This procedure originally found the lymphoma and a second EGD was ordered by Dr. Al-Hamad last Friday.  She wanted to run her own tests and also check for a disease that we had never heard of, and you probably haven’t either, Whipple’s Disease.  Once I looked it up, I wished I hadn’t, as Tracy has been ill the last 16 months, that’s all I have to say about that.

Monday was another day of tests for Tracy and also the day that Sarah and Kay returned home.  We were scheduled for a second spinal tap, and then a follow up MRI of her brain.  Both of these were to be compared to previous tests to help rule out any neurological problems as both tests were previously negative and all of the other doctors felt Tracy’s underlying problem was neurological.  The spinal was scheduled in her room at 7:30AM and 1:30PM for the MRI.  When I arrived at 7:00AM, the tests had flip-flopped.  The MRI was first at 8:15AM.  Tracy was not brought back to her room until a little before noon.  Sarah and Kay left right after she got back to the room.  It was very sad as they left, as Kay was not feeling well and didn’t want to get to close to Tracy.  The spinal tap was performed by Dr. Rossi shortly after noon and went off without a hitch.  Dr. Rossi told me that she had looked at the MRI and that it matched the previous MRI from almost 2 months earlier, Praise God.

Now back to the EGD I started today’s blog with.  Early Monday evening Dr. Al-Hamad came in with the results of the EGD.  Preliminary results of Whipple’s were negative, Praise God!  Then she told us she took 12 biopsies on Friday and that all of them were negative too, that means NO LYMPHOMA, let me type that again, NO LYMPHOMA!!  Praise God! Let me type that again too.  Praise God!  You want to talk about heads spinning, Drew and I were so stunned we were speechless for sometime.  Drew went into the family lounge to study while I stayed and prayed with Tracy as she slept.  Monday was also the day that Dr. Rossi and Dr. Al-Hamad started talking about transferring Tracy to the University of Michigan.  Drew and I went home energized.

Tuesday was a new day.  It started with Dr. Young, Dr. Rossi’s partner, saying that preliminary results from the spinal where negative and that she also thought we should be looking at moving on to U of M.  Then Dr. Folbe came in and said the same and that because there was previously a positive test for lymphoma he was still treating her for lymphoma even though all treatment was on hold until we could find the underlying diagnosis.  Later, Dr. Al-Hamad came in and said that she was confident in her results, but that she had also seen Dr. Dahlstedt’s results and agreed the Tracy had tested positive for lymphoma.  She also recommended looking at a transferring to U of M.  The last doctor we saw on Tuesday was Dr. Gowda, who also recommended transferring; only she was suggesting the Cleveland Clinic.  Needless to say Drew and I went home confused, as previous to Tracy’s current hospital stay, every doctor we saw recommended either the Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic.  Never was there a mention of U of M.  As we talked with the doctors throughout the day all were very confident in U of M as to it doctors and it’s proximity.

Hopefully I can catch up and blog about both Wednesday and Thursday.

God Bless,

Rob