Pamela Shaw

Pam’s Cancer Journal

Dec 2016 - pam felt a bump in her right ankle and went to see her primary care physician.

2 diagnostic test ordered, an ECHO something and an MRI

Jan. 2017 - Dr. said test showed a mass, and unless it grew or was painful to do nothing but wait.

August 2017 - the bump was bigger and was hurting, so Pam went back to see the doctor. Doctor scheduled surgery to remove the “mass”. No further diagnostic test were run.

August 22, 2017 - Pam had surgery to remove “mass”. Doctor said it was bigger than expected and was of a kind that would re-occur.

Sept. 1, 2017 - (Pam’s birthday) went to see doctor on post-op consult. The doctor informed us that the Pathology report said it was a Sarcoma cancer (LMS). Doctor said that if it was found to have not spread, Chemo and radiation were not good treatment for this cancer, and in her opinion it would be best to amputate below the knee.

Sarcomas are pretty rare but right now my dad is working with some people at md Anderson who are working on getting her an appointment asap as the tumor wasn't removed for 9 months due to the fact that no one thought it was cancer. The concern at this point is that it has metastasized from somewhere else (more commonly the uterus) 



We are all okay but prays would be greatly appreciated. With school starting back up and my own issues at play, there will be quite a bit of juggling here at the Shaw house. I will post more info as we learn more. God is good!

 

Sept. 6 - Taking mom to MD Anderson, she is seeing the orthopedic oncology department chairman Dr. Lewis. Will update when I have more info.

Late update: Mom saw the specialist. We have been told it's a Sarcoma by the old surgeon. The new oncologist is waiting for the surgeon to send over the Pathology slides so they can run them through MD Andersons pathology. Once they get the diagnosis officially there, they will know more as far as a treatment plan. She did go ahead and remove the stitches and mom will go in for a CT and X-ray on Friday and in two weeks when the surgical sight has healed more they will redo the MRI.

Sept. 8 - Pam went for CT scan and they found a blood clot in her lungs. They are taking her to the main hospital now to get her set up in the ER. I do not know now what they will do until they run more tests. Thank you for prayers and support

They will not hospitalize but are trying to decide best course of treatment. 
Bad news is the er doctor said there is lesions in her lungs and liver. We will not know stages or anything else till we see her dr again. They are calling to get her in next week and we will know more then.
Thank you everyone for prayers and comfort. We are all doing okay, just processing and waiting. This is very hard to go through with school just starting but Micah and I are okay.

Sept. 8, 2017 - Mom update 3: Mom is home! They will get her scheduled for a lung biopsy soon. They sent her home with a blood thinner for the clot. That's all for now until the dr appointment. 
I know I've said it before but thank you everyone for all the support. It seriously means so much right now. My teachers are being really great about everything which is one thing I really love about them! Mentally we are all doing okay, we know the Lord is good and know that until the dr says anything all we can do is wait. We have been through hard times with mom before and while it is sad to get used to something like this, it does help in a lot of ways. We have a great team of drs right now for mom which is a blessing. I'm glad God has put us in a position to get her the care she needs.

Sept. 15 – Went to MD Anderson for a clinic visit to get information about her upcoming Biopsy

Sept. 16 – Pam and Julia each got a haircut and saved the hair.

Sept. 18 – 8:00 am Lung Biopsy scheduled. Should be there about 5 hours if all goes well.