Kathy’s Road to Recovery

My mom, Kathy Coon, was recently taken to the hospital by ambulance because of excruciating abdominal pain. After a CT scan was done, they discovered a mass that was bleeding. She was then transferred to Roswell for more testing and to meet with the doctors who were best equipped to handle her care. They were able to stabilize her there and sent her home for the time being. A little less than a week later, we went back to Roswell to meet with the surgeon. At that time, the surgeon explained that the mass was significant enough that it needed to be removed and since it was on the left ovary that would also need to be removed, as well as the left Fallopian tube. During the surgery, they would send out some tissue for biopsy and if there was any reason to suspect cancer or anything else, they would then proceed with the full hysterectomy. At that time, there were no cancer markers and everything looked like it was going to be standard, easy peasy surgery.

Surgery day: The day started off great, her surgery was moved to the first one of the day and she was taken back pretty quickly. The surgery would take about an hour and they would contact us if it would take any longer than that. About an hour and a half later, we get the call that they needed to do the full hysterectomy. Fast forward another two and a half hours and the surgeon finally comes out and is ready to talk to us. She then explains that the surgery went well and mom was in the recovery room waking up. They were able to complete the surgery still laparoscopically so there was very minimal blood loss. They had removed the mass and ovary first so they could send it for testing. The testing came back and there was a rare form of ovarian cancer cells present. They then took everything and completed their staging process as well. They didn’t see any signs that the cancer was present anywhere else, but they need to receive the pathology results.

What’s next: Mom was discharged and is now resting at home. She has a post-op appointment coming up, where the surgeon will have all of the pathology results back and she and her team will be able to present the different treatment plans available. At that point, we will figure out what is the best plan for Mom and go ahead with it.

With multiple ambulance rides, hospital stays and surgeries this early on, the medical bills are really piling up. Mom has been out of work for 2 weeks already and has another 6 weeks she will absolutely be out of work for. She is the sole income provider of the house and disability just won’t be able to cover even the regular expenses, let alone the medical expenses that are coming.

Our holiday season is going to be spent taking care of Mom and getting her strong and ready for the road ahead and any help you are able to offer would do absolute wonders for us