Cindys battle against cancer
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I started this fundraiser for my daughter for her upcoming surgery at Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans. Since it’s out of town, Jeff will need a hotel room for 1-2 nights while she is in ICU. When she is moved to a room, he will be staying in the hospital room with her, they will need alot of help for the out of pocket costs that insurance doesn’t cover. We appreciate any and everything you can donate but even if you can’t donate, please continue to pray for Cindy, our family, and the complete medical team! Please feel free to Share this fundraiser. Thank you so much for everything! Here is her story in her own words:
As most everyone knows, I got the news nobody wants to hear in February about having breast cancer again. I had a CT scan and a bone density scan and they said I needed to start chemo. It was rough at first. I had the ‘red devil’ and took 4 treatments in a 12 week period and it made me so, so sick. Then they changed it to a different type and I was grateful. The new chemo didn’t have too many side effects other than the normal extreme fatigue and nausea. I did 4 weekly treatments and then had another CT scan and bone density scan. Those scans showed that there was little to no difference in size (we were hopeful that chemo would shrink it so it would be an easier surgery). So now it’s September and they start prepping me for a bilateral mastectomy. On 9/15, as I was on the OR table, the surgeon was shocked to see just what it looked like in there. He stopped for a little while to get another surgeon to look and he also called another surgeon. He said the tumor was coming from behind my ribcage and weaving through my ribs and up into my chest. He completed the mastectomy but left the tumor because he couldn’t get all of it and didn’t want to disturb it by taking the part he could see because that would make the cells float around and could end up in more places in my body. About 2-3 weeks after the surgery on a Saturday morning, I woke up with severe pain and swelling in my right arm. And since it was still the same the next morning (Sunday), I called my nurse at Southern Cancer Center and she said go straight to the ER because it sounds like you have a blood clot. They did an ultrasound of my entire right arm and it showed several clots from my hand to my shoulder and then they admitted me. I was put on a blood thinner through the IV they put in my port. My oncologist came by my hospital room the next morning and said the clots were caused from the port catheter and it is very rare for that type of clot to travel to my lungs, chest, or brain and said they could release me with a prescription for blood thinners. So now we’re current! The past 3 weeks I have traveled to Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans and met with 3 different surgeons (General, Thoracic, Reconstructive). I had a PET scan this week and it still showed that the cancer is local to the chest wall so the 3 surgeons got together and set a date for this to happen. Friday Nov. 17. It will be a very long and complicated surgery as they have to cut open my chest wall (similar to open heart surgery) and they will be carefully removing the tumor but they also have to cut out sections of my ribs and other bones and then reconstruct the bone. I’ll have at least 1 night in ICU and then a possible hospital stay of up to a week. We welcome all of your prayers for the surgical team, our family, and my healing!
If anyone would rather use Venmo or Cash App to donate, these are hers:
Cash app: $CindyBrannan
Venmo: @Cindy-Brannan
Thank you and God bless you!
As most everyone knows, I got the news nobody wants to hear in February about having breast cancer again. I had a CT scan and a bone density scan and they said I needed to start chemo. It was rough at first. I had the ‘red devil’ and took 4 treatments in a 12 week period and it made me so, so sick. Then they changed it to a different type and I was grateful. The new chemo didn’t have too many side effects other than the normal extreme fatigue and nausea. I did 4 weekly treatments and then had another CT scan and bone density scan. Those scans showed that there was little to no difference in size (we were hopeful that chemo would shrink it so it would be an easier surgery). So now it’s September and they start prepping me for a bilateral mastectomy. On 9/15, as I was on the OR table, the surgeon was shocked to see just what it looked like in there. He stopped for a little while to get another surgeon to look and he also called another surgeon. He said the tumor was coming from behind my ribcage and weaving through my ribs and up into my chest. He completed the mastectomy but left the tumor because he couldn’t get all of it and didn’t want to disturb it by taking the part he could see because that would make the cells float around and could end up in more places in my body. About 2-3 weeks after the surgery on a Saturday morning, I woke up with severe pain and swelling in my right arm. And since it was still the same the next morning (Sunday), I called my nurse at Southern Cancer Center and she said go straight to the ER because it sounds like you have a blood clot. They did an ultrasound of my entire right arm and it showed several clots from my hand to my shoulder and then they admitted me. I was put on a blood thinner through the IV they put in my port. My oncologist came by my hospital room the next morning and said the clots were caused from the port catheter and it is very rare for that type of clot to travel to my lungs, chest, or brain and said they could release me with a prescription for blood thinners. So now we’re current! The past 3 weeks I have traveled to Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans and met with 3 different surgeons (General, Thoracic, Reconstructive). I had a PET scan this week and it still showed that the cancer is local to the chest wall so the 3 surgeons got together and set a date for this to happen. Friday Nov. 17. It will be a very long and complicated surgery as they have to cut open my chest wall (similar to open heart surgery) and they will be carefully removing the tumor but they also have to cut out sections of my ribs and other bones and then reconstruct the bone. I’ll have at least 1 night in ICU and then a possible hospital stay of up to a week. We welcome all of your prayers for the surgical team, our family, and my healing!
If anyone would rather use Venmo or Cash App to donate, these are hers:
Cash app: $CindyBrannan
Venmo: @Cindy-Brannan
Thank you and God bless you!
Organizer
Ree Moody Covington
Organizer
Mobile, AL