My lovely wife who I've been with for over 25 years came down with a stomach virus Wednesday. Vomiting with "coffee grounds" in the blood, severe cramps so bad we had to go to the ER. They run a bunch of tests, blood, urine, fecal, xrays, etc. Diagnose gastritis and send us home with a nausea med and a H2 blocker. She gets home and starts retching violently. More coffee grounds. Pain at a 10. Call the ER at midnight and the nurse supervisor says ride it out, these things some times take days to resolve. More retching, more pain. She's exhausted. Thursday she's in pain all day. I go and set up a Hunter Safety class and she calls me - I could barely hear her - the pain is unbearable. I race home the 2 miles and call her doc on the way. He says get her in, so I do. Same ER and we're getting the cold shoulder...like you can't handle a little stomach flu? This time I demand a CAT scan. Along with the same other tests, they oblige, but she has to drink down 2 large cups of contrast media. Yeah right. She hasn't been on solid food in 3 days.
We got there at 5pm. She finally gets it down around 10:35pm they take her to the CAT. We wait for another 2 hours for it to be read...by a guy in Australia no less. All of the sudden she a very popular patient and we are receiving care meant for a king. Then at 1:30 the doc finally comes in and tells us there's a softball size tumor on her ovary. [bleep]. That's pushing on the small bowel and cutting off the stomach "drain" causing backup and vomiting. They find a bed at 3am in a bigger hospital an hour away. I follow the ambu in a daze. We've seen all manner of docs and surgeons today. They relieved her pain with morphine and a NG tube. Surgery is Monday am. Tumor, plus probably all female plumbing, depending on malignancy.
I'm numb. She is my rock and my true north. We have to beautiful boys. It's been...I dunno..40-50 hours? I have to get my schit together. If'n you say prayers every night maybe give Beth a mention? I'm kinda lost and probably rambling..
Will do, and good luck!!!
CharlieFoxtrot: So sorry to hear of the wifes pain and affliction!
Prayers are sent for her and you.
I know how you feel my wife of 41+ years has had a couple of scares in the past.
Stay strong and I am glad her pain has been diminished.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
Hang tite, sounds like they got a handle on it. We'll pray for you guys.
Best wishes for her and you. Stay strong!
Well Charlie, the problem is finally diagnosed correctly and a treatment plan is set up..
now you just have to wait over the weekend for them to set it up and start addressing
the problem.. which will be the first step in healing what is ailing her.
I always have to time to pray for those that have been diagnosed with Cancer...
but just as much to pray for their spouses and loved ones...at times it is even
harder on the family to see their loved one going thru such pain and prognosis, than
it is the patient.
I am sure all who read this will include your lovely wife in their prayers...
May they get it all Monday and may she heal quickly.
and may the Good Lord be with both of you during this difficult time.
Peace be with you.
best regards
I can empathize somehow with the scenario you write CF. Your "rambling" sounds far too familiar and I can only hope and send prayers your direction for a better outcome than you undoubtedly fear at this point. I hope you and Beth will find some peace as you pursue a good outcome.
Done CharlieFoxtrot , hope your wife is resting well .
Done. We have been through this. It has been about thirty five years ago and she is still going strong.
Glad they found out the cause. You're both in my thoughts.
I don’t know what I’d do without my wife.
I’ll be praying for Beth and you guys.
You aren't rambling, but you have every right to ramble.
Prayers for Beth tonight and every night, until she is out of any danger.
Saw this - prayed - and will be praying for you folks.
Thoughts and prayers for the both of you! These things can test you in ways you’ve never imagined. Faith and strength can work miracles!
Glad they found out the cause. You're both in my thoughts.
Here as well....
Glad they got something figured and acted on it.
My friend's wife was supposed to get hip replacement and 2 days they wanted to do some more blood and other tests.
her blood count was something north of 16,000 and did a culture in the lab here.
They said she had some bug that gets on clothes and bed sheets and to get some kind of fancy soap.
The pain got so bad he took her to Lubbock and they did an MRI and ct scan.
Turns out she had a infection of that hip joint and is was that crap that they have to report to the CDC.
Well she has been in the hospital for a month and just last week got in a rehab place after doing some work on that joint.
She was not doing good and all they were saying take some over the counter stuff.
Sometimes i guess they either don't look or just over look stuff.
Hope all goes well.
Try to get some rest.
Charlie Foxtrot, very best wishes to your wife and I hope for a successful operation and speedy and full recovery.
L.W.
Done man!
The Good Lord will guide the surgeons hands, healing will come.
Rest easy.
Jeff
Praying for Miss Beth and your family.
Wow. I can’t imagine. Yes, prayers sent.
CF, I admire your persistence, insuring that the right things finally were done on behalf of your wife. Beth and her three guys surely will be in our prayers.
Beth, you, and your family have the prayers of this household!
Hang in there!
Prayers sent for Beth and for you. And be extra careful driving. It is very easy to be distracted during this time with so much on your mind.
Prayers for a good outcome and a speedy recovery.
As I've said before "I'm not much for praying" but I'll sure keep you both in my thoughts.
I sure hope the best for you both.
Been down that road.
Thoughts for you and your family will be on my mind today.
Praying for you guys here. I'm getting from what you wrote they haven't determined malignancy yet.
Prayers sent. Best of luck.
We pray that everything comes out well and she can get back to normal life again after this painful episode.
God's healing for Beth and peace for you, both.
CharlieFoxtrot,
I have sent up prayers for Beth, yourself, and your family. I have prayed that the Good Lord will guide the Doctors, Nurses and all those who will be with her on this journey.
I have prayed for strength and guidance for you.
May the Good Lord bless you all.
Lynn
Prayers sent for Beth and you.
I am adding my prayers for your wife Beth and for you plus the family.
My friend, you have all the prayers I can muster headed your way.
Prayers lifted up for Beth, you, your family, and the medical staff.
Ed
My wife and I have been in a similar situation and it will cause rambling and a level of anxiety you find hard to believe. Good to read the part about finally getting some relief. It's amazing what the medical community can do once they get focused on the problem.
May the Good Lord bless your family with an effective surgery and a full recovery!
Prayers sent! Hang tough!
I had hoped that when I got to the tail end of this thread there may be encouraging news from CFT. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Praying hard for you and your wife sir. I couldn't imagine life without my beautiful wife at my side. Hang in there sir.
Im sure sorry to hear of this. Prayers are sent.
Scary stuff Steve, Beth, the kids and you all have my prayers.
I'm just down the road if there is anything I can help with give a holler.
Well Charlie, the problem is finally diagnosed correctly and a treatment plan is set up..
now you just have to wait over the weekend for them to set it up and start addressing
the problem.. which will be the first step in healing what is ailing her.
I always have to time to pray for those that have been diagnosed with Cancer...
but just as much to pray for their spouses and loved ones...at times it is even
harder on the family to see their loved one going thru such pain and prognosis, than
it is the patient.
I am sure all who read this will include your lovely wife in their prayers...
May they get it all Monday and may she heal quickly.
and may the Good Lord be with both of you during this difficult time.
Peace be with you.
best regards
It could not be said better. Prayers of healing and strength for you and the family.
Done here, please update us as time allows.
Praise the Lord the problem was found, Prayers sent.
Charlie:
For what it's worth, my wife had the same thing four years ago and she's fine now. She didn't have the complications your wife had, but had a grapefruit-sized tumor on her ovary that was mis-diagnosed. She went to her doctor more than once, complained about being bloated and uncomfortable and they couldn't diagnose it, thought it was some kind of stomach ailment. She heard about Mayan abdominal massage and decided to try it. The massage therapist put her hands on my wife's stomach and within 60 seconds told her she had a mass that didn't belong there and she needed to go to the doctor. Then she was diagnosed and had surgery not long after. Her tumor was benign, and I think many of the ovarian tumors that progress like hers and your wife's to grapefruit size are likewise benign.
Your post brought back memories of some tense hours waiting for the surgeon to come out and give me the news, prayers sent and hoping for the best for you and your family.
My wife was almost like smokepole's above: only when they got in they found 2 tumors on the ovaries....long story short is they got
them out and that problem went away......and I will not steal this thread on the other stories this led to. Prayers sent.
My 1st wife had a huge tumor like that, non-malignant. She had it removed and lived another 25 years until an unrelated cancer got her. My current wife had one, too. It was removed about 20 years ago, again non-malignant. A large tumor isn't necessarily a death warrant. Everyone keep up the praying.
Best of luck to all of you. Hang in there.
Tumor, plus probably all female plumbing, depending on malignancy.
CF-
Prayers this all works out.
My wife had very similar done a few years ago @ age 40 and I'm hoping the same positive outcome for your wife.
Second, and third opinions are always good! So is some in-your-face insistance at times.
Local hospital here diagnosed/treated a friend as having a "kidney infection" for over a year before he went to Anchorage for a second opinion. Bladder cancer. He now pees into a leg-bag. If it had been diagnosed correctly at first, he would likely have been OK- or at least better off.
Good luck with Beth's treatment. Wish you-all the best.
We will be praying for Beth to have a full recovery. I remember when they told me my wife had Stage 4 Brain Cancer and only 6-8 months. That was almost 7 years and 2 surgeries ago. Hang in there. Take it a step at a time and keep the Faith. Cancer is no longer a death sentence. Quite the opposite. We will put Beth on our prayer chains as well as you and all involved..
Jim
Darn. Sorry to hear about this Steve. I will pray for Beth and the rest of you as well. Stay strong.
CF, will talk to our father about this from now on. He hears from me on this subject 20 times a day and half the night.
Prayers for a speedy recovery
Thank you for your kind words gentlemen and lady. They are very reassuring when your world has been tossed upside down in a very short time. Tomorrow is her surgery and we will find out what our lives are going to be like then. I don't expect much sleep tonight.
Beth is in very good spirits. The boys and I spent the day with her in the room. The want her to walk so her GI system will clear. She asks how far? They jokingly say 26 times around the unit on the floor is a mile. She does 10+10+10 and gets 30 in - IV, NG tube and all. Then she's smiling and laughing with the boys, her pain has been abated by the NG tube draining her stomach. I'm so very proud of her because I know she's so scared.
We're humbled and blessed to have your well wishes and prayers. My sincere appreciation to you all.
Steve
Hope all goes well.
Prayers sent.
My humble and hardly said prayers as well. God Bless.
Hang tuff, it's worth it.
Dan
Prayers sent up for today and the future.
Praying hard for ya'll today.
Jim
First and foremost, thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers. It means a lot more than you'll ever know. Looking at life and death right in the face knowing the good people on this site have your back and give peace to someone in need really helped me and my wife Beth through. Seriously.
The Gyno/Oncologist prepared us for late stage ovarian cancer using all indications from the CT scan and pelvic exam. It was pretty grim. The plan was to open her up, take the softball size tumor, ovaries, uterus, debulk all other affected organs, and resect the bowel - roughly 4-7 hour operation. General anesthesia plus abdominal nerve block. 3 man team of surgeons plus OR staff and they would send someone out at the 2 hour mark for an update. She went in at 10am yesterday.
At 10:50am I see the lead surgeon in the doorway waving me to come over to the bad news private room. My heart hit the floor. I thought they lost her - there is no other reason for him to be out here so soon. As I got closer, I saw him with a slight smile. He proceed to tell me that it wasn't attached to the ovary at all, but wrapped around it and there was no way to see it from the scan. The tumor was attached like a small pumpkin to the small bowel. He said she's keeping all her lady bits and his team is out and the GI team on stand-by is in. He said the outcome now, even if it is malignant, is far better than what he had previously thought. The yo-yo of emotions was overwhelming.
At roughly 1pm the GI surgeon says she's in recovery. They cut the small bowel 2.5" on either side of the tumor leaving wide margins to get any disease infected areas. They reattached the small bowel using staples and looked at surrounding area for disease. They found none, but they took 2 partially swollen lymph nodes just in case. He said the tumor "appeared to be benign, but we won't know until we hear from pathology in 4-7 days." Did he just say what I thought he said? Sometimes the good guys win.
So now we count our blessings waiting for a report. Good or bad it still feels like we won the lotto. She's got a long road to recovery - she gets to go home when she farts and poops. Maybe a good bowl of bean soup? For now though, no foods for her, just IV, pain meds, and walking around the unit to get things moving. She didn't fully understand what happened yesterday. Today she allowed herself to breakdown with her new lease on life...every day a gift.
God bless you all.
Steve
tears of joy for you and Beth, Steve. thank God for the blessing.
First and foremost, thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers. It means a lot more than you'll ever know. Looking at life and death right in the face knowing the good people on this site have your back and give peace to someone in need really helped me and my wife Beth through. Seriously.
The Gyno/Oncologist prepared us for late stage ovarian cancer using all indications from the CT scan and pelvic exam. It was pretty grim. The plan was to open her up, take the softball size tumor, ovaries, uterus, debulk all other affected organs, and resect the bowel - roughly 4-7 hour operation. General anesthesia plus abdominal nerve block. 3 man team of surgeons plus OR staff and they would send someone out at the 2 hour mark for an update. She went in at 10am yesterday.
At 10:50am I see the lead surgeon in the doorway waving me to come over to the bad news private room. My heart hit the floor. I thought they lost her - there is no other reason for him to be out here so soon. As I got closer, I saw him with a slight smile. He proceed to tell me that it wasn't attached to the ovary at all, but wrapped around it and there was no way to see it from the scan. The tumor was attached like a small pumpkin to the small bowel. He said she's keeping all her lady bits and his team is out and the GI team on stand-by is in. He said the outcome now, even if it is malignant, is far better than what he had previously thought. The yo-yo of emotions was overwhelming.
At roughly 1pm the GI surgeon says she's in recovery. They cut the small bowel 2.5" on either side of the tumor leaving wide margins to get any disease infected areas. They reattached the small bowel using staples and looked at surrounding area for disease. They found none, but they took 2 partially swollen lymph nodes just in case. He said the tumor "appeared to be benign, but we won't know until we hear from pathology in 4-7 days." Did he just say what I thought he said? Sometimes the good guys win.
So now we count our blessings waiting for a report. Good or bad it still feels like we won the lotto. She's got a long road to recovery - she gets to go home when she farts and poops. Maybe a good bowl of bean soup? For now though, no foods for her, just IV, pain meds, and walking around the unit to get things moving. She didn't fully understand what happened yesterday. Today she allowed herself to breakdown with her new lease on life...every day a gift.
God bless you all.
Steve
Hope she recovers well, My wife spent from early November til early April with chronic digestive issues and problems urinating and side pressure. The "doctors" here seemed aloof about it. We finally decided in March to seek further treatment elsewhere. After going to a Urologist and finding a simple Medium size honeydew melon of a tumor on the right side of her uterus we got some attention. A week later she was well on here way to recovering!!!!
God Bless and continued prayers.
When momma is uncomfortable we all are!!!!!!!
Thanks a bunch for the update. I can feel your relief from here and I hope things continue to improve. Continued prayers from N.C.
May Beth continue to heal under Our Lord's care.
Great news Steve, Give Beth a big Campfire hug!!
Now for the bad news........She'll never go home, According to my wife girls don't fart.......Sorry.
All rite !!....good news ...the 1st round of doc's to the wood shed ..stat !
Wonderful news!!! Praying for her and your family!!!
Benign is the best word in the dictionary. My wife had a large ovarian cyst which was removed along with that ovary.
Good news for sure.
My hopes are for a complete recovery.
Now get you some rest.
Great news, good to read it
Awesome to hear good news indeed!
Thanks for the update.
Jeff
I don't know you or your family but I'm Happy and Relieved for YA'LL.
Thank God !
Jerry
First and foremost, thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers. It means a lot more than you'll ever know. Looking at life and death right in the face knowing the good people on this site have your back and give peace to someone in need really helped me and my wife Beth through. Seriously.
The Gyno/Oncologist prepared us for late stage ovarian cancer using all indications from the CT scan and pelvic exam. It was pretty grim. The plan was to open her up, take the softball size tumor, ovaries, uterus, debulk all other affected organs, and resect the bowel - roughly 4-7 hour operation. General anesthesia plus abdominal nerve block. 3 man team of surgeons plus OR staff and they would send someone out at the 2 hour mark for an update. She went in at 10am yesterday.
At 10:50am I see the lead surgeon in the doorway waving me to come over to the bad news private room. My heart hit the floor. I thought they lost her - there is no other reason for him to be out here so soon. As I got closer, I saw him with a slight smile. He proceed to tell me that it wasn't attached to the ovary at all, but wrapped around it and there was no way to see it from the scan. The tumor was attached like a small pumpkin to the small bowel. He said she's keeping all her lady bits and his team is out and the GI team on stand-by is in. He said the outcome now, even if it is malignant, is far better than what he had previously thought. The yo-yo of emotions was overwhelming.
At roughly 1pm the GI surgeon says she's in recovery. They cut the small bowel 2.5" on either side of the tumor leaving wide margins to get any disease infected areas. They reattached the small bowel using staples and looked at surrounding area for disease. They found none, but they took 2 partially swollen lymph nodes just in case. He said the tumor "appeared to be benign, but we won't know until we hear from pathology in 4-7 days." Did he just say what I thought he said? Sometimes the good guys win.
So now we count our blessings waiting for a report. Good or bad it still feels like we won the lotto. She's got a long road to recovery - she gets to go home when she farts and poops. Maybe a good bowl of bean soup? For now though, no foods for her, just IV, pain meds, and walking around the unit to get things moving. She didn't fully understand what happened yesterday. Today she allowed herself to breakdown with her new lease on life...every day a gift.
God bless you all.
Steve
Fabulous news!! Hope the word "benign" is in big bold letters in the pathology report!! Prayers will continue for healing and recovery!
Kinda the first two words in my mind also....
Glad the problem wasn't as big as originally expected...
Best wishes and prayers for a quick and painless recovery for you wife.
That is great news indeed. Wonderful to read that.
Not sure how I missed this update Steve but sure glad I found it! I hope all continues to be well!
So happy for you both. Life is so precious.
Great news to start the day,stay strong and best of luck through this
Great news to start the day,stay strong and best of luck through this
So this emotional roller coaster ride is finally coming back into the station. Long story, but the readers digest version is we went to the ER twice for stomach flu. After demanding a CT scan we find out she has a softball size mass on her ovary. She gets an ambulance ride to a larger hospital at 3:30 am. We see the Gyno/Oncologist and he prepares us for stage 4 ovarian cancer. Plan was to take out tumor and female bits. He comes out of surgery way early and says it’s not ovarian, but growing off the intestine. Another surgeon is taking the tumor out and 2” on either side of the mass. Great news! Same surgeon says it’s benign looking. Great! Resident comes in next night in the hospital and says no cancer. Awesome!
Couple days later a new oncologist comes into the room and says it was, in fact, cancer. Damn. But we can treat it with oral chemo and the tumor is gone. Another post-op CT scan found a small nodule on the lung. Damn. But the chemo should wipe it out. Awesome. 3 years of taking a pill, hopefully minimal side effects.
We are blessed. Being in a cancer center puts EVERYTHING into perspective. There is always someone who has it worse and they need our prayers more than we do.
We are optimistic and very hopeful. She’s been a trooper through this whole thing. I’m so proud of her. She is truly the best part of me.
Charlie, just a suggestion.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/01...annabis-oil-killed-his-incurable-cancer/Don't know what else to say, except I personally know this man's wife and they aren't bullcrapping anyone.
Sure hope you get it worked out! Will continue prayers.
I'm late to reply here Charlie. Of course, my prayers to you and our wife. Here's to the hopes your battery of doctors can arrest this scourge. Hang tough sir.
Just getting the update. Soooo happy and prayers answered..