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Caroline and I went to Florida on a short vacation May 9, 2018, on the Sunday, mother's day, Caroline was complaining about stomach cramps so I took her to a nearby clinic where, after reviewing the results of some tests, the clinic sent us directly to the emergency of Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers. Within 1 & 1/2 hours of reaching the emerg, a CT scan was completed, we had blood results AND a diagnosis, leukaemia (AML) and the CT scan revealed a large mass in her cervix.
Caroline was admitted and the real story begins.
After a few days of treatment to lower her white blood cells, Caroline had a major set back and on Wednesday night, her organs started shutting down, she was suffocating. The ICU physician explained the severity, put Caroline on life support and preformed a Leukapheresis in order to save her, with the thought of keeping her under until we returned to Canada. She came though the treatment well, but would be days until she could breath on her own again and 2 full weeks before she could breath unaided. It seems only her spleen took permanent damage, all other organs seem to be returning to normal function. In the meantime, they could not address the mass in her cervix, but said "expect the worst."
She was experiencing uncontrolled bleeding, and was receiving 1 - 2 blood transfusions daily, as well as blood platelets in order to help slow the bleeding. After the Leukapheresis was completed they preformed a bone marrow biopsy, and started chemo later the same day. This is now Thursday, 4 days after admitting. The kids came down to check in on their mother, and to everyone's surprise, she opened her eyes. THe doctor said she should be out like a light for another 2 days, but there she was fighting all the way.
On Sunday we were taken to Toronto via air ambulance to the ICU at Mt. Sinai Hospital with the plan to move to Princess Margaret once Caroline was breathing on her own. On Thursday, they removed her breathing tubes and woke her up, she has some memories of the almost 2 weeks she was under but very little. On Friday (May 25), they performed an MRI on her cervix and I am thrilled to announce they are pretty sure the mass is not cancer. The doctors are not sure why it is there or what is causing it but we are taking the news as very positive, a biopsy was performed to confirm their suspicions.
Caroline is now wide awake, finished her first week of Chemo and looking forward to spending the next few weeks in the hospital (not). She hasn't had food for 2 weeks and yesterday and today they allowed her to have ice chips - she is craving everything...and wants to get out of bed asap. We have had a few visitors, but once she is out of ICU and moved to Princess Margaret BRING IT ON. There is a long road ahead, but we now have a plan and I will keep her spirits high, everyone is so impressed by her fight and spirit.
As a side note, I want to thank the Florida Hospital staff, nurses and Dr's as well as the current staff helping her day by day. I also want to thanks Selina for travelling to Florida to help me get through the days and be my ears, eyes and secretary, ask the tough questions and a shoulder to cry on. To EVERYONE else, texting, phoning, sending food, driving me, keeping the lawn cut and sending all the positive thoughts and prayers, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
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