Good Morning and Happy Thursday everyone,

GREAT NEWS!  Pat is being released from the hospital today, just over 24 hours after surgery.  She did so great and is feeling good the doctor said there is no reason she shouldn't rest at home.  I will be picking her up at 12:30 and we are going to make the drive home.  We had originally thought about spending the extra night at the hotel but Pat is anxious to get home.  That and the beds at the hotel were high and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to get in.

So I guess this will be my last blog post as Pat will be back on Facebook and Gmail this week.  You can only keep her away from Bejeweled Blitz for so many days.

Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and comments.  They meant a lot.

Ron

End of a long day.  45 minute surgery, 2 hours in recovery and another 3 hours to find Pat a room.  Mayo Clinic was real busy today.  Pat is doing remarkably well considering the last surgery.  You was awake the good portion of the afternoon, pain was moderate but she was alert and surprised at how well she felt.  She was even looking for food mid-afternoon, although she is on a clear liquid diet at the moment.

If she has a good night she could be released as early as tomorrow.  We have a hotel room till Friday so if they release her tomorrow, we will stay in Jacksonville the night to avoid the 3 hour drive with her so quickly after surgery.

Ron

Good morning,

It's been a long day so far. We have been up since 3:30 am and at the Mayo Clinic since 5:20 am. They started Pat's surgery at about 8:10 am. They finished at about 8:50 am. The surgeon was able to go in with just two small incisions. The largest about 2" long. The surgeon said everything went fine and that there were no complications. They removed the nodule and she should be able to go home on Friday.

She will be in the recovery room for about two hours and then I should be able to see her. They put a small catheter in the incision that will deliver pain medication right to the site. The surgeon said this will help with pain and speed of recovery.

All the wildfires north of Jacksonville are really raising havoc here. The car was covered in ash this morning and the air is thick with smoke and haze. People are walking around with surgical masks on.

Will post another update later today.

PS. The volunteer just came out to say Pat was still in recovery. But Pat sent a message that she was doing much better than after the last surgery. GREAT NEWS!!!

Ron

Hi Everyone,

We arrived in Jacksonville Monday evening much later than we had planned to.  Drove through some fierce thunder, lightning and heavy rain as we got close to Jacksonville.  Kristen's new apartment is nice but a bit small for three.  Pat and I moved to a hotel on Tuesday so she can get a good nights rest.

Today was spent with all the pre-testing procedures and meeting with the surgeon.  Pat is scheduled first Wednesday morning. We have to be at the Mayo Clinic at 5:45 AM.  The incision on this surgery will be a bit bigger and they are hoping she will be ready to leave the hospital in 2-3 days.  We have the hotel until Friday so even if they release her on Thursday we will stay up here the extra night to prolong the 2 1/2 hour drive home.

She should be out of surgery by mid-morning and I will post another update after speaking with the Dr.  As always all of your thoughts, prayers and comments are much appreciated.

Ron

Hello friends and family,

As well as the blog worked I was hoping not to have to use it again, at least not so soon.  Pat has been up at the Mayo Clinic since Monday, June 6th having some tests.  Unfortunately, the mass on her right lung has grown from 4 cm. in March to 7 cm. as of yesterday.  They are going to take her in quickly for surgery next Wednesday, June 15th.  At this time all we have is the date and not quite sure how long she will be in the hospital.  This mass is in the lower section of the lung which will result in a more invasive surgery.  Since this blogging is new to me, I am not sure if you automatically get notified of new updates if you did not sign on as a "follower".  Please drop me a comment or reply to retailrat@gmail.com and let me know if this blog got pushed to your emails.  Once again, thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Ron

Happy Friday the 13th,

Sorry, for no recent update, the Blog server went down yesterday afternoon and just came back up.  You could read the posted blogs but not add comments or any new postings.

Pat came home from the Mayo Clinic on Thursday afternoon.  She is in a bit of pain but eating and getting around pretty well.  The nodule in the left lung is metastatic colon cancer that moved into the lung.  We are now waiting to hear from an oncologist to determine the next course of treatment.  It does look like chemotherapy will be in the treatment regiment.  They will also keep an eye on the small growth in the right lung and there may be a future surgery for that if is increases in size.

Thank you again for all your comments, thoughts, emails and prayers, they have certainly eased the stress of this on all of us.  Pat is back on the computer already, she had to get back to Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.  Please drop her an email: patclark4@gmail.com or catch up to her on Facebook.  I know she would live to here from you.

Now that we are back home, this will probably be the last blog post.  As well as it worked, I hope I will never have to use it again.

Ron

Just got back from the hospital.  Such a difference between yesterday and today.  Pat was eating some solid food today and was up walking around the floor multiple times.  She spent the day sitting in the chair.  We are pretty sure they will send her home tomorrow although we still do not have the pathology report from the nodule they removed.

I left about 6 PM and took Kristen to dinner down on the beach at Joe's Crab Shack.  We got to sit out on the back deck facing the water and it was very enjoyable and relaxing.  I then dropped Kristen back at the Mayo Clinic.  She was going to go back and spend a couple hours with Pat.

Not a lot of new information but thought I would share.  Keep your fingers crossed that we'll be back in Ocala tomorrow.

Ron

Good Morning everyone,

I haven't made it to the hospital yet but spoke with Pat on the phone.  See sounds so much better than when I left her last night.  The nurses had to take away her morphine because she was getting too trigger happy pushing the button and they couldn't get her to stay awake for more than 10 seconds.  Every time they asked her a question she responded "UH HUH", "UH HUH".  So since she was so agreeable I decided to get in on it and asked her if I could buy a new car, and she said "UH HUH".  Maybe I should have gotten her to put it in writing.

The staff at the Mayo Clinic had her up and walking this morning.  The doctor was going to remove the drainage tube today, still awaiting the final results of the pathology report on the nodule they removed.  Pat said they were going to possibly let her go home today until the staff learned she had a 2 1/2 hour drive.  So it looks like they will let her go tomorrow, Thursday.

Kristen is coming up to visit Pat today.  She accepted a job in Jacksonville and is starting tomorrow.  She is going to drive up and look for apartments today, visit at the hospital and then she is staying with one of the women she is going to be working with.

Thanks again for all your support and kind words.  The emails and comments have been great.  Will update the blog again, later today when we know some more.

Ron (the new car owner)

Pat went into surgery at 8 AM this morning. The procedure lasted about 45 minutes. She did really well through the surgery. The surgeon was able to go in from the front keeping it minimally invasive. The biopsy on the lump was positive for cancer and they are still running some additional tests to be sure whether it is lung or metastatic colon cancer. She had some pain after the surgery causing her some extra time in recovery. We are waiting for the doctor to come back in, he originally thought she might be able to go home on Wednesday. She is on morphine and mostly sleeping but has been awake and talking quite a bit. Will update again when I have some more information.

Hi everyone,  10:30 PM and we are turning in for the night.  Have to be up at 4:30 to be at the hospital for 5:45 AM.  Pat had a long day at the Mayo Clinic with blood tests, EKG's and X-rays.  We met with the surgeon again in the afternoon.  He was very positive about the procedure, after reviewing all the information he has decided to do a Chamberlain procedure rather than surgically going in through the side. It is a thoracotomy, or small incision of the chest wall.  He thinks he can go right in at the growth.  Once he removes the section of the lung where the growth is they will biopsy it to positively confirm what type of cancer it is.  He is hoping she will be released one or two days after the surgery.  We will know a lot more after the biopsy and talking with the oncologists after the surgery.

The Mayo Clinic is an amazing place.  Absolutely HUGE!  They manage to move everyone through the appointments without long delays.  They have the test results to the Dr's almost immediately after the test.

Thank you all for the support and kind words and emails.  Will update again Tuesday after the surgery.

Ron

As most of you know, Pat found out in September that there was a spot "nodule" on her left lung.  It was there since the first round of colon cancer back in 2009. However, they never told Pat about it.

After months of PET scans and CT scans, visits to the oncologist, lung doctors and surgeons, Pat went back for the second time to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville yesterday, March 29th.  Pat was most comfortable with them and has decided to have the surgery there.

The surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10th in Jacksonville.  Recovery in the hospital will be about three to four days.  The surgeon there said that he is quite sure that is metastatic colon cancer rather then a non-cancerous fluke or lung cancer.  They will remove part of the left lung and biopsy it.  From there we will hope for the best.  There is also a second small spot on the right lung that they will be keeping an eye on.  It is so small at this point that he would be afraid he would miss it if he tried to remove it.

Since it is difficult to keep everyone updated, we thought the blog would be the best way and would eliminate me missing some of you by email.  You can also email me at retailrat@gmail.com with specific questions or just post on the blog.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  I promise to keep this up-to-date once we get to the Mayo Clinic on the 9th.

Ron