Florinda (Susie) Raymond

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    On August 16, 2021 Susie was rushed to the hospital with concern of serious cognitive decline; (these signs had significantly developed over only a couple of week’s time and at first seemed to be harmless; such as mixing up her kids’ and grandkids’ names and then every couple days, worsened rapidly). 
The scans done in the ER revealed that she had a large tumor pressing against her left frontal lobe that was the cause of her cognitive decline. Sutter Santa Rosa helped us find a neaurosurgeon at CPMC in San Francisco,  Dr. Peter Webber. 
He  was to  perfrom her surgery to remove the tumor ASAP. At that point they were thinking the tumor was benign. 


On the evening of August 18th Dr. Webber completed a successful craniotomy and was able to obtain a 95% resection of the tumor.  Susie was intubated and placed in the ICU for the evening.  
The doctor was amazed when Susie woke up the next morning as she was able to immediately recognize and speak to her family when the nurse held the phone to her.  
    As she was recovering from surgery in the hospital, her immediate family members took turns visiting and staying with her (only 1 allowed per day).  
A few days after surgery Susie and her family were visited by the Oncology team at CPMC and notified that the tumor was in fact malignant (cancerous) and actually a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme. 

    The hospital, along with the advocation of Susie's second born daughter, Nadine got all of the therapies (physical , occupational and speech)  in place that she needed to be on the road to recovery to be able to transition into going back home.  
Meanwhile, her eldest daughter Angie’s  husband, Justin, along with George (Susie’s husband), worked hard at George & Susie’s  home installing handrails, handicapped bars, non-slip/non-skid rugs, etc (all under the supervision/approval (via pictures) of Susie’s doctors, to ensure her physical safety once she was able to return home.   At this point, after brain surgery, she had become  a “fall-risk”. 



In common Susie-fashion she recovered fast, and was determined to do everything  she needed to in order to get back home to George and her family! 



 She was released to go home on Thursday September 2. 


Susie is  blessed to have four children, two of which, Thank God, have their Masters in some of the very things that are crucial to her recovery!

Nadine , Susie’s 2nd born, has her Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy.   Her knowledge and experience working with  our Country’s Veterens has been a Godsend to say the very least.  She knows vital things to look for and the key questions to ask during the meetings with the Doctors involved in this case; (it was she that first noticed the sudden difference in her Mother’s behavior.)
Desaree, Susie’s youngest daughter, has a Masters Degree in Speech Pathology, (a pathway that was encouraged by Susie  when Dez was still deciding on what her College Major would be; “You’ll always have a job with Speech Pathology” is what Susie said to her, and because Desaree trusts her Momma fully, she took her advice, and thank God she did!!).  
Between Dez and Nadine, they’re able to help their big sis, Angie, (Susie’s 1st born), navigate through the scary waters of taking care of their Momma that only 3 months ago, was the strongest woman they all knew, that not only played women's Soccer every Sunday, walked Miles every day just for exercise and bonus time outdoors,  and didn’t have time for not feeling good well.   
Thankfully Angelina (Angie) and her husband, Justin, live just down the road and because of this are able to be the ‘body and muscle and ligaments  of the ‘backbone’ that Nadine and Dez are, when it comes to caring for Susie and helping out George with the daily care to make sure her mom is comfortable, safe and free of any and all stress. 
Georgie, The only boy of Susie’s 4 kids,  a Police Officer in SF……If there was one person that Susie  would be upset over if we took him away from his responsibilities as a Peace Officer… It would be him.  Following in the footsteps of her Uncle Ed, she couldn’t have been more proud when her only son decided to become a  San Francisco Police Officer himself..   He is the sounding board and the voice of reason for his 3 sisters. 
Together, they’re the perfect team for their strong, sweet Mom. 

     Just five days after getting home on Tuesday, Sept 7 Susie started a strong regimen of radiation treatment and chemotherapy. This was six weeks of her,  her family (kids and grandkids) and some special friends taking her to and from San Francisco every week day to get her treatments. These trips were filled with nice car ride conversations, seeking a nice place to grab a cup of chai or on the days she felt up for it a quick bite to eat in the city. She enjoyed admiring all of the beautiful architecture in the city and even got to know a good amount of the regular patients that were along side her in treatment. 
Monday October 18th was her last day of treatment.  She and her family anxiously awaited her next scan to see how treatment helped as she was also taking a month to rest and recover. 
    During that downtime, the lasting effects of chemo and radiation started to take place and really show after treatment ended which came as a surprise to Susie and her family. She began to get more and more fatigued, and her weekly blood panels were showing dangerously low platelet levels. On October 19th Susie was admitted to the ER for extremely low platelet levels and given an infusion which helped bring her count back up. It took a little while but her body is strong and has been progressively on the upswing since that day. 
    The team of doctors caring for Susie have been pretty tenative and communicative in taking care of her for the most part. Obviously the home care team aka George and family has been doing the majority of the communication to doctors and taking to her appointements when needed.                  
 She is extremely grateful to have so much love and support surrounding her at this time and looks forward to being able to visit with and see all of her extended family and friends once her resistance and strength are built back up. The family is grateful and asks for continued prayers as they walk this path with Susie.