Cathy Popehn

The week of July 30 Cathy started feeling dizzy & she had blood in her stool. She was admitted to North Memorial Hospital on August 5th. Her Hemoglobin was steadily dropping so they were giving her several blood transfusions. After several colonoscopies & endoscopes  trying to figure out where the bleed was coming from, they found a blood clot on her colon on August 7th. There were several attempts to go in & cauterize the blood clot. Each time they could not get a clear picture to enable them to do it.  On August 10th there had not been any bleeding for 24 hours & her Hemoglobin was up!  On August 11th Cathy was able to go home. Unfortunately, Cathy started bleeding again on August 13th & was re-admitted to North Memorial. On August 14th she had another colonoscopy to put 3-4 clips on the blood clot.  This again did not work. Late on August 16th, cathy had surgery on her colon. They took 8 inches of her colon & resectioned it together.  After a 4 day recovery in the hospital, she was able to come home! Unfortunately, Cathy was not recovery well. On September 5th she went back in to see her surgeon because he had found a malignant tumor on her pancreas.  Upon having another CT Scan, it was discovered that she had an infectious fluid around her pancreas too. The doctors currently have a port to drain that fluid. Cathy is unable to have any solid food right now & they’re trying to build her strength up interveniously & with liquid protein. Due to so much fluid around her pancreas it is difficult to determine if the tumor has spread. They do know that it attaches itself to the colon so far. As of right now the doctors from the Pancreatic Department, Surgery & Oncology are looking at Cathy’s CT Scans & her MRI to make a plan of action. They do state that this is a very unique case.   You’re prayers are appreciated & welcome.