Welcome to Linda Ruth Neff's CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
In mid October Linda had a CT scan that showed an enlarged lymph node in her abdomen. She had a biopsy of that lymph node a week later that showed cancer, but the doctors could not be certain where it started. The pathology was consisitent with a gastro-intestinal malignancy (cancer) most likely from the pancreas-biliary tract.
She saw an oncologist right away and had five other procedures/tests in order to find out more about the cancer. In early November she had a PET scan that showed activity in her pancreas. Linda had already seen an oncologist, but she went to see a Liver/Pancreas specialist (surgical oncologist) as well. He ordered another CT scan of her chest and abdomen to get better information about her diagnosis and to help her team create a treatment plan. The consensus is that she has a locally-advanced pancreatic cancer, best treated with systemic chemotherapy. On November 13 Linda got a port for her chemotherapy.
Linda's first chemo treatment was on November 18. The regimen she is getting is called FOFIRINOX. She will get treatments every two weeks in the oncology clinic's infusion center. Each treatment takes 2-4 hours to complete and then she can return home with an infusion pump for an additional 72 hours of treatments.
After 3 cycles (6 weeks) she will have another scan in late December to see how the chemo regimen is working (this is where you come in - please pray that with each treatment her cancer responds dramatically!). Linda is a believer in the power of prayer and healing, we ask that you visualize her cancer being completely eliminated, and lift up Linda for a full response to treatment.
Did you know Linda's middle name is Ruth? When Linda first learned that she might have cancer she started reading about people who could give her hope for healing and living with quality of life after a cancer diagnosis. She was immediately inspired by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's many triumphs over cancer, first colon cancer in 1999 (at age 66) then pancreatic cancer in 2009 (at age 76) then lung cancer in 2016 (at age 83) and a recurrence of her pancreatic cancer in 2019 (at age 86). Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked for more than 20 years after her first cancer diagnosis! Linda Ruth Neff is ready to fight this battle like her namesake RBG! She wears a Ruth Bader Ginsburg mask with a white lace collar adornment that says “I dissent.”
We will keep this page updated as best we can.
Thank you for your love, support, prayers, offers of assistance - Linda along with her family is so appreciative of your care and concern.
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