Mary Lou lamain Mary Lou Lamain

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During a trip to Norway and Iceland with Susan, Mary Lou became very ill and could not keep any food down for the last 20 days of the trip.


She came home on Thursday, August 18 and she was very weak, yellow and had lost 14 lbs..


Se went to the doctor on Friday morning and they did an examine and took blood tests.  She waited all weekend to hear if she had hepatitis.  ML called the clinic Monday morning and got the results, no hepatitis.  She needed to report to the hospital within 2 hours for CT scans.


By this time she had lost 25 pounds. She went to the hospital and were taken into triage immediately. They shuffled her off to a ER doctor who took copious amounts of blood and urine and ordered a CT scan.


The scan showed she had a dilated gall bladder, and ducts, enlarged liver with more dilated ducts and a mass on her pancreas.  She was severely dehydrated and her electrolytes were off. She was very low on potassium and salt.


They immediately admitted her to the hospital and put her on IV's to replace fluids, and ordered an MRI with contrast and a GI consult. At 5 pm they took her down for the MRI. Then we waited. No one came for the consult because it was too late by the time they got the MRI.



The news was not good the next day. An endoscopy performed today showed ML has pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to her liver. They sent biopsies and will know which kind of (3 choices) they are dealing with and what stage. Then they will present her with treatment options. 


They did place a stent in her bile duct and her color is already improving.


A few days later a chest ct was done that showed spots on her lungs.


Because of her age and physical condition, there is only one chemo protocol they will consider for her. She must build  her strength and weight in order to withstand it. They are moving her to Masonic home for 2=3 weeks for rehab to accomplish that.