Help a Young Mom Of 3 Dealing with Cancer
Donation protected
My sister Lacey is an awesome mother to 3 beautiful girls, aged 6 and 19 month old twins. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. We went from thinking she was severely anemic to "you have cancer" in less than a week. Treatments aren't cheap and anything you could do to help this sweet family would be greatly appreciated. This will help Lacey focus on getting better, and not have to stress over how the medical bills are going to be paid.
Read below to hear the story straight from Lacey:
Tuesday, June 23rd- I went to my Primary Care doctor to get a physical because I was not feeling like myself for the past few months. I was fatigued, had lots of nausea, light headed, and I was having NIGHT SWEATS (like ring your shirt out each morning sweating). I kept pushing it off because I really was thinking it was the quarantine isolation and maybe me just in a FUNK! I mean I do stay home with 3 little girls all day, and we hadn't seen friends in MONTHS! Within 2 hours of leaving doctors office I got a phone call -never good when they call you the same day! She said my Hemoglobin level was a 7.3 (which is extremely low⬇️⬇️⬇️) which meant I needed IRON bad. She was thinking I had some severe anemia, but was concerned with some other numbers so had sent my labs to a Hematologist to do some further investigation.
Wednesday June 24- Sunday June 28th- symptoms were getting worse, now I was having trouble breathing and two lymph nodes had appeared.
Jump to Monday, June 29th ... I go see the hematologist- he is concerned with XYZ... so he called for more labs. He basically said to me I think you have Hodgkins Lymphoma- I can't be certain until I do a few more things, but everything I see in your blood work leads me there. He then proceeded to feel two lymph nodes in my groin that had appeared over the weekend. As soon as he felt those, he said YOU NEED SURGERY to have those removed and insert a port. I sat there stunned. I went from in my mind- this is anemia to nope its cancer. I was scheduled for a pre-op appointment at the hospital the next day in preparation for surgery Wednesday July 1st.
Tuesday, June 30th- had pre-op testing done, and then met my surgeon. He was even more concerned with my hemoglobin that was even lower at a 6. He suggested we hold on surgery and scheduled me for a blood transfusion, steroids, and an iron infusion the very next day (Wednesday).
Thursday, July 2- I had a PET scan
Friday-Sunday July 3-5th we escaped to the river to relax and just process what was actually happening. With surgery scheduled for Monday to take out two lymph nodes in my groin and possible insert a port . we needed to just flop.
Monday, July 6th- Surgery
Tuesday, July 7th- follow up with Dr.-- My Pet scans showed "stuff" everywhere from my neck to my pelvic area. He also saw something he didn't like in my bone marrow. He then informed me he wanted to do a bone marrow biopsy right then. Ya'll I was never anxious about surgery, but when he explained what he was going to have to do to get the bone marrow I starting to loose it inside. Mom's who have had an epidural, think 5-10xs that pain, its quick- only about 45 seconds the entire procedure, but the pain was unbelievable. Before I left we scheduled another follow up appointment for Wednesday where he will have back the lymph node biopsy results and bone marrow results and we will map out a plan for BEATING THIS CRAP!
Today- I got to stay home ALL DAY LONG! I am in a lot of pain- not from the surgery, but from the biopsy. Leah came over to help me with the babies (because I can't lift anything for 2 weeks) and to keep me company. The next few days will be just like this. I have a rotation of friends coming to sit with me and help with the babies as needed while David works.
It has just been a waiting game... however I am thankful for the surgeon halting the surgery and making sure I got blood, iron, and a steroid in order to build me up a little more before I had surgery. So now we wait... 7 long days to find out the next steps. We are positive about it and know everything will be ok. "They say" that Hodgkins is the best of the worst. Meaning it super beatable and if you had to get cancer this is the one you want. BUT, who the hell wants CANCER?
If you are reaching out to me, know that I am reading it, however I may not be responding to every single text or call because there are so many. I will keep you posted as we decide on the plan and move forward. Thank you already for all the love and support.
Much Love,
Lacey
Read below to hear the story straight from Lacey:
Tuesday, June 23rd- I went to my Primary Care doctor to get a physical because I was not feeling like myself for the past few months. I was fatigued, had lots of nausea, light headed, and I was having NIGHT SWEATS (like ring your shirt out each morning sweating). I kept pushing it off because I really was thinking it was the quarantine isolation and maybe me just in a FUNK! I mean I do stay home with 3 little girls all day, and we hadn't seen friends in MONTHS! Within 2 hours of leaving doctors office I got a phone call -never good when they call you the same day! She said my Hemoglobin level was a 7.3 (which is extremely low⬇️⬇️⬇️) which meant I needed IRON bad. She was thinking I had some severe anemia, but was concerned with some other numbers so had sent my labs to a Hematologist to do some further investigation.
Wednesday June 24- Sunday June 28th- symptoms were getting worse, now I was having trouble breathing and two lymph nodes had appeared.
Jump to Monday, June 29th ... I go see the hematologist- he is concerned with XYZ... so he called for more labs. He basically said to me I think you have Hodgkins Lymphoma- I can't be certain until I do a few more things, but everything I see in your blood work leads me there. He then proceeded to feel two lymph nodes in my groin that had appeared over the weekend. As soon as he felt those, he said YOU NEED SURGERY to have those removed and insert a port. I sat there stunned. I went from in my mind- this is anemia to nope its cancer. I was scheduled for a pre-op appointment at the hospital the next day in preparation for surgery Wednesday July 1st.
Tuesday, June 30th- had pre-op testing done, and then met my surgeon. He was even more concerned with my hemoglobin that was even lower at a 6. He suggested we hold on surgery and scheduled me for a blood transfusion, steroids, and an iron infusion the very next day (Wednesday).
Thursday, July 2- I had a PET scan
Friday-Sunday July 3-5th we escaped to the river to relax and just process what was actually happening. With surgery scheduled for Monday to take out two lymph nodes in my groin and possible insert a port . we needed to just flop.
Monday, July 6th- Surgery
Tuesday, July 7th- follow up with Dr.-- My Pet scans showed "stuff" everywhere from my neck to my pelvic area. He also saw something he didn't like in my bone marrow. He then informed me he wanted to do a bone marrow biopsy right then. Ya'll I was never anxious about surgery, but when he explained what he was going to have to do to get the bone marrow I starting to loose it inside. Mom's who have had an epidural, think 5-10xs that pain, its quick- only about 45 seconds the entire procedure, but the pain was unbelievable. Before I left we scheduled another follow up appointment for Wednesday where he will have back the lymph node biopsy results and bone marrow results and we will map out a plan for BEATING THIS CRAP!
Today- I got to stay home ALL DAY LONG! I am in a lot of pain- not from the surgery, but from the biopsy. Leah came over to help me with the babies (because I can't lift anything for 2 weeks) and to keep me company. The next few days will be just like this. I have a rotation of friends coming to sit with me and help with the babies as needed while David works.
It has just been a waiting game... however I am thankful for the surgeon halting the surgery and making sure I got blood, iron, and a steroid in order to build me up a little more before I had surgery. So now we wait... 7 long days to find out the next steps. We are positive about it and know everything will be ok. "They say" that Hodgkins is the best of the worst. Meaning it super beatable and if you had to get cancer this is the one you want. BUT, who the hell wants CANCER?
If you are reaching out to me, know that I am reading it, however I may not be responding to every single text or call because there are so many. I will keep you posted as we decide on the plan and move forward. Thank you already for all the love and support.
Much Love,
Lacey
Organizer and beneficiary
Katie Venezuela
Organizer
Mechanicsville, VA
Lacey Thurston
Beneficiary