Maret Ryan

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.  Please leave a message for Maret and we will read them to her.  Thank you for visiting.  We will update the Journal as often as we can.

Maret's journey began in January when she noticed something wasn't quite right with her abdomen.  In February she visited Mayo clinic and we received the news that she had an abdominal tumor that could not be removed.  But we had a plan to treat it with Chemo pills that she could take at home which would slow the growth of the tumor.  It wasn't a cure but it would give us some time.

Maret was able to spend quality time with family and friends in March and early April.  She unfortunately had a set back in mid April which resulted in a couple of bad weeks spent at home in bed.  In early May she was admitted to the Hospital where we discovered the problems she was having was not a side effect of the chemo but rather something we could treat.  We were hopeful after the hospital that she would regain some strength and energy.

Since we got home from the hospital Maret has spent all of her time in bed. She has no energy and is eating very little. The nurses have been coming and in the beginning her vitals which were good.  She had a permanent port put in on Monday - with that Maret can have the excess fluid, that is giving her so much discomfort, drained more frequently at home. Our Oncologist suspended treatment while she was in the hospital. Just before she went into the hospital he told us her recent CT scan showed no tumor growth. He was pleased to see that. 

The past few days have been a whirlwind. Maret has been visited by nurses and other medical staff. Since she came home her condition has steadily deteriorated.

We are honoring her wishes as she has decided to discontinue treatment and we have transferred her from palliative care to Hospice care.  Her wish is to spend her final days at NC Little Hospice.  She will be moving there this weekend.

Thank you all for your continuing support and prayers during this difficult time. We are grateful for all of you.

The Ryan family