Help Support Barb in Her Cancer Battle

UPDATE: MARCH 19TH

Barb is still in the hospital.

Her lung is struggling with healing. They are hoping tomorrow her lung will expand a little more so they can put a medicated powder down her chest tube that will cause the lung to get "stuck" to keep it from continuing to collapse.

Yesterday, ENT scoped her throat and nose. Thr Nasopharyngeal mass is large. It is starting to protrude down from the upper soft palate. Oncology wants to try palliative radiation specific to that mass to see if they can reduce it from swelling down into her throat/airway. She will try her first treatment on Monday morning.

Unfortunately, Barb's cancer is incurable.

We just want to give her the best end of life care.

We thank you all so much for sharing, saying a prayer, keeping her in your thoughts, and for your donations.

Barb's Battle:

On February 3rd Barb went to her primary doctor for a nasty sinus infection along with other symptoms. Her doctor did labwork and sent her with antibiotics.

On the morning of March 4th Barb was told to go to ER because her hemoglobin was dangerously low and she needed a blood transfusion.

Genesis did a CT Angio and she recieved 2 units of blood. During this time she had a low fever. Coughing up blood and bleeding and pulling clots from her nose.

The CT came back and the doctor told her she had a large mass in her upper left lung that they believe is malignancy, infection or both. She was discharged as they couldn't find any hospitals to take her.

On February 11th, she went back for more blood coughing up than the visit on the 4th. Her hemoglobin was low but not dangerous. They sent her home with antibiotics.

On February 21st, she had a follow up with Pulmonary and he told her "I don't know what you've been promised, but we can't help you. You need to go to Iowa City right now. You're still bleeding internally and that needs stopped."

On February 21st she was admitted to University of Iowa Hospital - Downtown.

Her iron was low as well as her potassium.

She recieved a unit of blood and (2) painful bags of potassium.

On February 22nd a Pulmonary doctor start running TONS of tests. He believed she has a severe infection and told us not to worry about cancer. That was at the bottom of the pole. Also, later on that day she was transferred to the main campus University Hospitals. She is still there as of today March 10th.

From February 22nd-February 27th all the tests kept coming back negative for every infection and auto immune disease they could test for.

On February 28th they performed a Bronchoscopy to biopsy her lung. The procedure went as planned and Barb handled it well. Later that evening she developed post-procedure pneumothorax. After watching it closely and it getting worse she had to have a chest tube placed to help suction and heal her lung.

On March 1st she had another blood transfusion for low hemoglobin.

On March 3rd Oncology came in and told her some results from her biopsy came back and she had Lung cancer. She also had a brain MRI that showed what could be a metastasized lesion near her clivus.

March 4th she had a PET scan.

March 5th Oncology came in and told us per her PET scan that her main source of cancer shows it's in her nasal cavity and lymph nodes in her head and neck. That the lung cancer is metastasized from her head and neck cancer which means she has Stage 4 metastatic head and neck cancer.

Also, on March 5th they performed a biopsy of her nasal cavity. Those results are not back yet. Not all the lung pathology is back either.

On March 6th her chest tube needed to be adjusted. Her pneumothorax is still not healed as of today March 10th. She still has the chest tube in.

Today is March 10th. She is still losing blood through coughing and her nose. She's on antibiotics. She has regular daily xrays to watch her pneumothorax and check that the chest tube is where it needs to be and helping. She's hoping really soon she will find out if she is surgical candidate to fix the pneumothorax, stop the bleeding, and hopefully they can remove the necrotic mass in her lung safely so she can go home.

March 11th they performed another nasal biopsy as the tissue they collected was not viable for testing. Also, CT showed her pneumothorax was healing and her Pulmonary Oncologist let her go home with a heimlich valve chest tube so her lung could continue to heal.

Today, March 17th she had a follow up with her pulmonary oncologist. Xray showed she had large Hydropneumothorax in her left lung. Because of this she was admitted back to the hospital this morning. They put her on hospital suction and she will have a CT in the morning to see if she needs a new chest tube or what the best course of action will be for her.

She's been having a really hard time swallowing the last few days as well. Doctor noted there is a mass in her right tonsilular pillar.

Today she also recieved her 4th unit of blood as her hemoglobin dropped again.

We are still waiting for some pathology to come back from her nasal biopsy from the 11th.

Oncology came in to see her and said that she does have Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. Which is a specific form of head and neck cancer. This has completely blocked her nose. She can not blow her nose, smell, or taste. She constantly has pressure in her face and is causing muffled pain in her ears. The doctors are trying to come up with a safe plan to see if they can safely open some airway through her nose.

I will continue to update as we get them.

If you would like to donate direct through venmo please use @Theresa-Hubbard-12 with "Donation for Barb" ❤️