Donate to Aid Momma's Recovery from Cancer and A-Fib

Last January, Momma was having issues with her heart being in a-fib. I had to fight with all the doctors as well as pull some strings with friends that worked in the medical field to even get her seen before six months. We finally got her an appointment with Dr. Frasier, a cardiologist, in Greenville. He was very helpful and got her scheduled for a cardioversion to try to break her out of a-fib.

She had the cardioversion done in July and Dr. Frasier questioned why her iron was low and referred her to a gastrointestinal doctor, Dr. Brilliant, to further investigate with a colonoscopy. Her heart went back into a-fib the very next day after her cardioversion, which meant she would have to try another cardioversion and then a cardiac ablation to get her out of a-fib. When they did her colonoscopy, they found a large tumor in her colon, were pretty certain it was cancerous, and scheduled surgery to remove this huge mass in August.

The tumor was larger than they thought at first, so they had to remove part of her colon and intestines, as well, to make sure they retrieved all the cancer. This surgery was very hard on her and very painful to recover from. She had to have a colostomy bag put in place until she is cancer free and they know they will not have to reenter that site. The bags have been a challenge for her to keep from leaking and leading an everyday life because it is very inconvenient when they do not go on properly.

After about a week’s stay in the hospital in Greenville, she came home to try to recover enough to return to work to bring in some income since she had none coming in at that time. Once she was able to move around comfortably, we started the process of getting ready for chemotherapy to kill any remaining cancer cells. She had a port installed in her chest for easier blood draws and chemo placement. We went twice a month for 6 months, every Monday to get chemo and have the pump installed until Wednesday when the pump was removed.

The chemo was very rough on her. She could not drink any cold drink, eat cold food, or even touch anything cold, as it would feel like she was being shocked. She was very tired and developed neuropathy in her fingers and toes, too. She was on two different nausea medicines, so that was kept at bay, thankfully. Once she finished the chemo, they did another pet scan to make sure she was cancer free and get her lined up for the second cardioversion to give her heart a break from a-fib.

She had a few small nodules light up on her left lung, but they felt it was scar tissue from being a previous smoker, but were keeping an eye on them. She was scheduled for the cardioversion and this time it worked and gave her some relief. When she went for the next PET scan, the nodules on her left lung had grown so she was scheduled for a lung biopsy to see the next step in her treatment.

She had a polyp removed from the bottom of her rectum, which caused her to have a rectal bleed and landed her in the Greenville hospital for another 3 days to get her off blood thinners and get the bleeding to stop. She has not been on blood thinners since this episode and is supposed to be getting a device called the Watchman installed in the artery of her heart that produces blood clots so she can permanently stay off the blood thinners.

While waiting for the lung biopsy date, she developed a toothache, which got worse before it got better. Her lung biopsy went well and was an in and out surgery, but the next day, her face was so swollen that she was almost unrecognizable from her toothache. She also developed blisters on her face, head and inside her mouth, which she assumed was from the tooth infection.

Once we got to the oncologist, Dr. Pictin, for her follow-up from the lung biopsy to discuss treatment, she informed Momma that the blisters were actually shingles and referred her to a dermatologist and an ophthalmologist to make sure no further damage was done. She also informed us that she had to discuss Momma having surgery with the cancer tumor board, to remove the lower left lobe of her lung, where the polyps were, so she wouldn’t have to have chemo or radiation. We now wait for the results of this meeting to see if surgery is the next step or radiation.

Next week she goes back to the dentist to get 2 teeth filled, hopefully, so they can be saved and not cause any more pain.