Last month Marth had an atrial flutter (heart's upper chambers beat too quickly), thought to be caused by taking a cold shower after exercising. On Jul 20 (Mon) she had an atrial fibrillation (irregular and often rapid heart rate), and the ER sent her for a CAT scan. No heart irregularities appeared, but the scan revealed a 2" mass in her right lung; she had no accompanying symptoms. She went for a 30-mile bike ride - as she often does - on Saturday. A picture of health and fitness, Marth has completed RAMROD [Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day] five times in the last ten years. It's "the Pacific Northwest’s premiere one-day ultra-marathon cycling event each July with a challenging course for 800 riders and featuring 10,000 feet of climbing in 152 miles." Wow.
On Wed (Jul 29) Marth met with Dr. Renato Martins (
https://www.seattlecca.org/providers/renato-g-martins) (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance oncologist at UW Medical Center) for a follow-up appointment. The discovery that he is also an avid biker provided an instant connection. Dr. Martins told Marth, "Absent other evidence, this looks like lung cancer." By the look of the scan and knowing that she works as an ER and ICU nurse at Harborview Medical Center (level 1 trauma center for four states), he explained that it could possibly be tuberculosis, but she has none of those symptoms. Dr. Martins also said, "We're gonna fix this," and, "There's absolutely no reason you won't be cured." My beloved wife Susan (a two-time cancer survivor) was with Marth through the appointment to offer support and a strong shoulder to lean on.
Years ago some new pavement was laid on a long stretch of road near where Marth lived in the Colorado Rockies. She decided to see how fast she could go riding downhill on a bicycle: 62 mph. That may be close to the pace at which the next steps occur. There is no initial indication of spread to lymph nodes or elsewhere, but she'll need a confirming PET scan, a pulmonary function test (protocol), and a brain MRI before surgery to remove the tumor. Sounds like a biopsy will be done when the tumor is removed, and treatment options will be determined by the results. Dr. Douglas Wood (
https://www.seattlecca.org/providers/douglas-wood) (Cancer Care Alliance) will perform the surgery. Nothing is scheduled yet, but that will likely change very soon.
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We are deeply grateful for friends and loved ones who want to support and encourage Martha. We are especially thankful for those who will pray for her through the coming days and weeks. We know from difficult experience that retelling such a story again and again can be an emotional, physical and spiritual drain, and all of those resources will be needed to get through procedures and recuperate. I will update this site whenever there is new information to share. If you decide to follow it, the site can notify you by email when it's updated. For now, it would be a great help if you would make this site your main source of current info (and use it to leave notes Martha can read and enjoy) rather than calling or texting her.
We have decided NOT to share this information with our almost-97 year-old Mom until the day of the procedure. She often has difficulty retaining information and can ask the same question(s) repeatedly. In order to minimize worry for Mom and distraction for Martha, we agreed that this is our best course and hope that you can help us stick with it. Please keep in mind that fewer incoming calls will reduce the possibility of Mom overhearing something that causes her to worry.
It is not our intention to be harsh, though that's how it may sound. The aim is to take as much as we can off of Marth's plate so she can focus on what she needs to do at each step. Thank you for understanding.
With much love and appreciation,
Tom (Martha's brother)
206-372-5517
