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Jay was diagnosed with primary CNS lymphoma cancer in his brain 7/21 and started his first methotrexate chemo treatment on 7/22.
Jay started out by feeling tired and having headaches fathers day weekend. He tried going to work the next few days but kept getting nauseous . At first our family thought maybe he caught a new strand of COVID or some virus. He went to his doctor to get checked out and the tests came back negative and the doctor thought it was a virus he was just going to have to wait out and work through. After nearly 2 weeks of feeling exhausted, headaches and nausea he went back to his Dr. for a third time for additional testing. Due to an elevated heart rate, low blood pressure & irregular EKG at the Dr. office they sent him to Methodist ER because they were concerned it might be something with his heart.
He then went to Methodist hospital on July 1st and in the ER they could not figure out what was wrong and thought it was some type of stomach issue. He was admitted that night and we were told he would meet with a GI Specialist the next day & they would likely do a scope. The Dr. on-call that night also ordered a head scan 'on a hunch'. MRI was done Friday AM and initially thought it was a 2 cm mass on his pituitary gland. After further imaging later that day they determined it was actually two small masses, one on his his hypothalamus and another slightly above. We then spent 4th of July weekend in Methodist running every possible test imaginable to determine exactly what the masses were. He finally came home Monday, July 5th while we waited for results.
During this time Jay became very exhausted and confused. Also, due to feeling nauseous all the time he has been hardly eating and has lost 25+ pounds. Finally on July 13th we met with Neurosurgeon about doing a biopsy due to all the other testing coming up with negative results. Due to frustrations with Methodist we transferred to the Nebraska Med Center Neuro ICU and the biopsy was done on July 14th. He was in the Neuro ICU at the Med Center until July 20th due to having a drain tube to help relieve fluids from his brain. This, along with receiving steroids, has helped reduce the sized of the tumor and Jay is no longer as confused. We finally received a complete diagnosis on July 21st. Jay has been diagnosed with DLBCL primary CNS lymphoma cancer in his brain. He has now been transferred to the Buffet Cancer Center at the Med Center to start preparing for chemo. The chemo treatment he is being put on is methotrexate. He is required to take Sodium bicarbonate pills to protect his kidneys during chemo but Jay says they taste like salt and wasn't keeping them down, so getting that part of treatment taken care of has been a little difficult.
He started his first round of treatment Thursday night, July 22nd. His treatment will require him to stay in the hospital for a few days to let the chemo flush through his system and then go back for treatment every other week for about 6-8 rounds. As long as everything goes well Jay should hopefully be able to come back home in between treatments.
Our family truly appreciates all the love, support and prayers everyone has sent us as we fight this battle together. We know this battle won't be an easy one but we know our God is with us and we find our strength in him. We ask that you continue to support, pray and follow along with us on this journey.
Thank you all so much!
- The Sila Family
If anyone would like to help financially during this difficult time check out the GoFundMe
https://gofund.me/82faf166 
