Carol Petters

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
Carol was first admitted to the St Cloud Hospital the Mon after Thanksgiving after going to Urgent care because of extreme fatigue and swollen lymph nodes in her neck. The doctors ordered a cat scan which showed enlarged lymph nodes in her neck, chest and groin,
The doctor suspected  either a viral infection or lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymph nodes. Because of this a biopsy was taken of scrapings of her lymph nodes in the neck. These were sent to Mayo and  the results showed a disease process and irregularities but not conclusive of what was causing it. Because she continued to grow weaker after going home  she was readmitted to the hospital Dec, 12 . She had another scan the day before which showed the lymph nodes were growing which eliminated the viral theory. A second biopsy of a cluster of lymph nodes from under her arm were taken on Thursday and were sent to Mayo. In the meantime she was diagnosed with kidney failure due partially from the contrast dye used in the cat scan and she was treated with IV meds to improve kidney function. She has been retaining fluids because of the kidney issue and this causes respiratory issues also. Friday she passed blood in her stools and had a colonoscopy and endoscopy (Tests to check the colon and upper stomach and esophagus) to find the source of the bleed. The bleeding had stopped and ulcer medication was given to heal it although they were unable to view where it was. She did need to get a unit of blood because of the blood loss.
This is written the 27th and she is still in the hospital. She continues to be very weak although her kidney tests are improving. We still do not have a definite diagnosis because of waiting for the biopsy report. The doctor said there are so many different type of lymphomas and treatment will depend on the biopsy results.
Our intent is to use this site for updates as Carol has touched so many lives and it is next to impossible to keep everyone posted. Please keep her in your prayers,