Sunday August 3rd - First Post

I've talked to most (but not all) of you -- my apologies if this is first-time news, but I'm hoping it's not. It's been a hard 36 hours.

What we know:

1. About 4 weeks ago Rachel started having pain in her chest (ribs), later radiating to her back. Her doctor thought it was a pulled muscle, and prescribed painkillers.

2. It got progressively worse, but she tried to tough it out during our Wisconsin vacation. The painkillers weren't working, she wasn't sleeping, and she was in constant pain. We wound up making 2 trips to the emergency room up North, where the condition was diagnosed as costochondritis (inflammation of the connective tissue in the ribs/chest). With a return visit to her doctor in Evanston an oral steriod antiinflammatory was added to her regimen. Also a CT scan showed pneumonia, so she started an antibiotic as well.

3. A week ago she started having digestive problems, which we thought were related to her medications -- constipation, some nausea, later diarhhea. Still lots of pain, now mainly in her lower abdomen, which also got pretty distended.

4. Yesterday morning (Saturday) she was so miserable she drove back from Lake Geneva to Evanston Hospital, where (after lots of tests and imaging) they found a fist-sized mass near her ovary. They admitted her to the hospital, and got her pain fairly well under control with IV pain meds.

5. A CT scan today confirmed the pneumonia is still present, and there appears to me a small mass in her lung as well.

6. She's scheduled for a biopsy tomorrow, and a bone scan to see if they can determine the source of her original pain.


What we don't know:

1. We don't know if it's a tumor, an abcess, a cyst, or something else. The oncologist we talked to today said it's probably a tumor based on what they've seen, but we shouldn't jump to that conclusion.

2. We don't know if it's benign or malignant.

3. We don't know if it has spread.

The biopsy should give us this info, probably by Wednesday. She'll have surgery once there's a diagnosis, and then the right follow-on treatment (i.e. chemo if needed).


What you can do for us:

1. Don't panic, or assume the worst. We're not.

2. Don't visit -- yet. Rachel wants to have a firmer idea whats going on first, at least for a day or two.

3. Many of you have offered dinners and/or kid care while we sort this out -- I'm overwhelmed by your generosity. I'll be able to take time off as needed this week, and going forward, but your help is really welcome. Let's do this for this week:
Monday: Dinner from Evan Finamore
Tuesday: Dinner from Leslie Cousineau, maybe some kid-watching
Wednesday: Dinner from Jane Berkley
Thursday: Dinner from Laura Boylan, maybe some kid-watching

After that we'll play it by ear.

4. Please use your best judgement in sharing this information -- I'm sure I've forgotten someone I should be sending this to, but we'd rather wait to tell the whole world once we know better what's going on. I'll keep you posted.

5. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Pat