Okay, update on Mel again. The visit with the oncologist went well; she is going in tomorrow to have a "Portacath" placed near her collarbone. This is like a tube-IV thing that they will use to administer the chemo drugs, draw blood, etc as needed. Using this means they won't have to keep stabbing her with IV needles at every turn. This is a ( Read more... )

I had a lovely half-day today, so I went up to see Mel after work. She looks good, but is walking sort of bent because of her incision. :) We went to Target and then to Marsh to get food to make dinner for her, Ray, and me. I'm surprised she didn't feel bad; she definitely was done when we got home, but she was pretty good getting through the ( Read more... )

Okay. We know it's cancer already, but now we know what kind. It's Germ Cell Ovarian Cancer, and while it's extremely rare and only presents in women ages 18-28, it's very easily treated with chemo. It's a fast-growing cancer, which makes it scary, but they've caught it early. They still aren't sure if the smaller tumor thing they found is a ( Read more... )

I hate those two words. The doctors haven't heard back from the Mayo Clinic, so we're still waiting. I just hope they don't call the day before Thanksgiving and get everyone all riled up right before the big family day.

Mel got to go home tonight at about 8:30, I think. They finally had to give her warm prune juice to get her bowels moving. EW. I'm planning on going up as soon as possible to see her and mom & dad.

Mel had a much better day today. A bunch of her friends dropped by and she wanted to see them. There was basically no discussion of the cancer, just people there to lift her up. I'm so glad it was an easier day. I got my voice back and made a few more calls to update people on Mel; I think Jenny and Carole are passing the word around to the ( Read more... )

After all the talking and calling people and being upset, I've lost my voice. I was hoping to go up and see Mel tonight or at the latest Saturday, but there's no way if I'm getting sick. I don't want to pass anything on to her. How annoying. Hopefully she'll be out Sunday afternoon and I'll just visit her at home instead.

I got to the hospital around 9 this morning; I stopped and got breakfast for mom and dad. I ran into Ray as I was coming off the elevator and asked how she was; he told me that it was about 3 in the morning when it finally hit her. He spent the night with her, and neither one of them got any sleep, and then when it all came crashing down on her ( Read more... )

Melissa went in for surgery tonight at about 4. Everything went well and they removed her ovary along with the cyst, which was beginning to attach to her abdominal wall; this was what had been causing the severe pain. The doctors searched her abdomen for any signs of other cysts or foreign bodies but didn't see anything, so they sent the cyst for ( Read more... )

This is my first foray into the Secret Pal on LJ; I am so excited to send my secret pal some fun items, and of course I'm looking forward to seeing what I receive as well. In case the user that has me as a secret pal comes on here, I wanted to list a few other things about myself ( Read more... )