Nancy Gowan

I have started this site for my grandma aka Mamaw, Nancy Gowan. 


  A few weeks ago she began feeling bad and having lots of trouble taking a deep breath without experiencing sharp pains, she took a few days off work and had a dear friend, Juanita stayed with her. As the illness progressed she went to the doctor's office, Dr. Naymick, and had a few tests ran. It showed what we expected and that was pneumonia but it also showed something we didn't and that was a lung mass. 
   A hospitalization followed along with a more in depth look at the lung mass, which then revealed another mass on the liver. So in the midst of treating the pneumonia, she had a liver biopsy. As far as biopsies go it went well, aside from a few tears (a bunch). Then the dreaded wait, 3 to 5 business days for the results. The results came the following day.  September 2 7, 2016 mid afternoon, the anvil fell.. CANCER!! The mass in the lungs was the initial cancer site and had spread to the liver. The lung's largest mass is around 2.2cm and in the liver the largest around 10cm. 
  After spending 6 days in the hospital Mamaw was well enough over the pneumonia to go home. Today, October 4th, we met with her oncologist, Dr. Turner and received the official name and staging......... Stage 4, non small cell adenocarcinoma. 
  Mamaw is still having pain in her chest related to pleurisy, an inflammation in the lining of the chest wall left over from the pneumonia. She has lots of decisions to make, she wants to go back to her life before the diagnosis but only time will tell.