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