Susie’s Story

Site created on September 14, 2023

So, I'll start from the beginning.  Gay and I have decided to make this Caringbridge website in order to keep everyone updated.  As you all know, Susie knows everybody which is a testament to her dazzling personality!  


On May 14th Mom was having chest pains, so my cousin Lynn took her to the ER.   While there, they did blood work which showed anemia and low iron. The doctor said she had a bleed somewhere.  On a totally different note, her chest pains turned out to be nothing major.  Her primary care doctor ordered an upper and lower GI to investigate further.  Her colonoscopy showed 2 polyps and a mass.  That called for a CT scan with contrast which revealed 3 spots.  Fast forward to a small army of specialists, and numerous tests, it was determined that she has a mass in the colon which has spread to her liver.  The lining of her uterus also showed thickening of the lining of her Uterus and mass in her ovary. So, her oncologist referred us to a gyno-oncologist.  Ironically, the doctor suspects this is unrelated to the colon.  So, it's basically a perfect storm.  



The plan is to resect her colon to remove the mass and do a hysterectomy.  This is more of a preventative surgery because if the tumor moves, it could block her colon and then we would have major problems to deal with.  They are doing the hysterectomy since she is already in surgery and they don't want to do a biopsy and then have to put her through another surgery.  Once she heals from this surgery, the plan is to let her heal and possibly do chemo/radiation and then do liver surgery.  We do not know what the future holds so will just take this one day at a time.  


Gay and I appreciate all the love and support everyone has shown Mom.  Special thanks to everyone who have driven her to doctors' appointments and taken care of her when we couldn't get there.  I have to give my cousin Lynn and her awesome husband Pat a special shout out.  They are angels on earth!!  


Much love, Janet

Newest Update

Journal entry by Janet Marshall

I took Mom to the doctor today for her follow up appointment.  The doctor was amazed at her recovery and said she was a standard textbook case - which he's never seen before. So, we are all impressed.  She did not require any pain meds after surgery - however, we gave her some because the pain was coming.  It never came!!  So, she's a medical warrior.  The results from the colon doctor showed that 4 out of the 20 lymph nodes he took showed cancer.  She is scheduled to get a port on 10/5 then we will meet with her oncologist that afternoon.  She is going to be one tired gal at the end of the day.  Doctor said we have to wait until after 10/14 to begin any chemo, because he wanted to give her time to heal. 

Mom is still in Lafayette, staying with myself or Gay.  She isn't eating very much so we are trying everything we can think of to be creative and calories on board.  We all know Gay is a much better cook than I am so maybe she can work some magic.  

Once we see the oncologist, we will have a better picture of what the future holds.  For now, we will take these small victories!!

Love, Janet
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