Thank Goodness for Persistent, Insistent and Caring Doctors...

Many people have asked how my cancer was discovered, and I have to admit I owe my life to Dr. William Elliott at the Emergency Room at Baton Rouge General...here's the story...settle in...may take a while...

On September 21, I had been suffering from a 4 day stomach virus.  I was dehydrated and had a monster migraine...Shane and Ashley insisted that I go to the ER, and at the time I just REALLY wanted the migraine to go away, so I let Shane put me in the car (with minor kicking and screaming) and Ashley and I went off to the ER...

Comical 3 hour long waiting experience...You would not believe how many people walk in the ER asking for the vending machines...People, there's a fast food joint on every corner, but you NEED a vending machine for dinner???  Gimme a break!  The hospital ER does provide VERY interesting people watching...we tried not to stare...

So after the 3 hour waiting room wait (of which I almost left about 10 times, but was given the mean face by Ashley), we get called back.  I explain to the nurse that I am dehydrated and I need the migraine cocktail and then we would be on our way.  This early twenty something "scruffy from a three day beard" tells me that two high school football players were just brought in by an ambulance and he estimated that I would see the doctor in two hours....Are you kidding me???  I almost walked out... again!!!  So we had already waited for three hours and I was told that I would wait for another two...there were some unpleasant words coming from my mouth...

Finally Dr. Elliott comes in and I clearly explain that I need hydration and the migraine cocktail and then I can go home....This isn't my first rodeo in the ER for a migraine...But he asks me about abdomen pain...And answer that I have cysts on my ovaries all the time so naturally I have abdomen pain...He presses around, I moan, and I guess he decided with all of his medical school knowledge that just maybe the pain I was having wasn't from the cysts...And that's why he's a doctor and I'm a CPA...

But he puts the orders in for fluids and the cocktail, the IV goes in and I'm immediately in heaven...

He also ordered some blood work...I really don't even remember the scruffy nurse drawing blood, but he was cute in a country boy sort of way and Ashley and I were teasing him about his beard, and I was getting the cocktail, so it's not crazy that I would have forgotten that part...

Then out of nowhere, someone comes in to take me for a chest xray...I'm like WHOA MISTER!!!!  I have a stomach bug - I didn't break my breastbone...so we call the nurse..and he confirms that Dr. Elliott ordered an xray of my chest and abdomen...and all I can think is that they are trying to run my bill up...but what can I do?

So I get the xray...and I lay in darkness and wait for the xray to be read...then again...out of nowhere Mr. CAT SCAN guy comes in and tells me I need to drink these two ginormous containers of nastiness...I politely tell him that I haven't kept down anything in four days so I'm pretty sure that's impossible...his response in a joking but stern voice, "I can't leave until you finish drinking it"....By this time, I am ready to blow a gasket.  We are at hour ten in the ER, Mom has changed places with Ashley so she could go home and sleep and I am livid!

So there I go for the CAT SCAN, then we have to wait for that to be read...Bottom line...Dr. Elliott comes to tell me that the blood work showed that my liver enzymes were elevated which led him to do to the CAT SCAN which showed that my liver was enlarged.  He suggested I follow up pretty quickly with the GI doc at the ER that night, Dr. Andrew Nelson...

Now how many times have I completely ignored that doctor's advice when it concerned me??  Always...Not once have I ever ignored a doctor's suggestion when it concerned my children. but for me?... that can always wait another day...

But something just told me to follow up...divine intervention...So I went to see Dr. Nelson who did some more blood work, and looking at me thought I looked perfectly healthy, and ordered an ultrasound which all confirmed what was found at the hospital.  He didn't think my liver was the problem, just a byproduct of the real problem - and he informed me that not only was my liver enlarged, but my spleen and some lymph nodes were swollen also.  Because of the spleen enlargement, he suggested I see Dr. Derrick Spell, a Hematologist.  Dr. Nelson picked up his cell  phone and called Dr. Spell's cell phone, and in minutes I had an appointment with Spell the next day.

I went to see Dr. Spell completely alone - just thinking this was another appointment in a wild goose chase that was really just going to turn out to be a tapeworm or something boring like that....I was so naive at this point, I had no idea that his office was in Mary Bird Perkins and that "Hematologist" is usually coupled with "Oncologist".  I was so freaked out when I realized this, I was hardly able to coherently meet with the Patient Coordinator and give her all of the important information for my file...I'm positive I was stumbling through questions about my birthday and marital status...I'm talking freaked out!

Dr. Spell decided to do a Bone Marrow Biopsy to rule out Leukemia and other Blood Disorders - scheduled for the NEXT day!  I was NEVER put to the side, this group of doctors was fantastic in their interaction and prioritizing of my case.  We got the results of the Bone Marrow Biopsy and we did the celebration "No Leukemia" dance.  Never once during this process did Shane and I ever really think I had cancer.  I was making jokes about it, but we always thought something strange and easily fixable would be the culprit.  Dr. Spell then recommended surgery to biopsy one of the swollen lymph nodes.  He picked up the phone and was talking to Dr. Kleinpeter within minutes.  I had an appointment with the surgeon the next day, and surgery at the end of the week.  Somewhere in our discussions, Dr. Spell mentioned that if the lymph nodes turned up clear, we should probably biopsy my liver.

Once I got home, Shane and I realized, why not have Dr. Kleinpeter biopsy my liver and lymph nodes while he was going in, so I called Dr. Nelson (GI doc) and mentioned it to him.  Done deal.  Dr. Nelson and Dr. Kleinpeter handled it and it was all set up... I didn't have to make another call to either of them.

Now that was even more divine intervention...because the biopsied lymph node was damaged and the pathologists couldn't make an accurate determination from the node...It was the liver biopsy that determined my lymphoma.  So from September 21 to November 25, I went from thinking I was completely healthy (with a side of anxiety) to being diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma...(the two month gap was only caused my waiting for test and biopsy results) So once again...I owe my life to the persistence of Dr. Elliott who was NOT trying to run up my bill and for each successive doctor who was determined to find the reason for a perfectly healthy looking woman to have such strange blood test readings and enlarged "insides".

Dr. Nelson and his nurse Jan (from the GI world) have kept in contact with me regularly.  Just checking in, and this week they surprised me with a cookie bouquet.  Just amazing!  As Jan says, "You're still our patient", and my response is, "but Jan, y'all can't fix me", but that doesn't matter to them...they truly care about my recovery.  About every three months, I see Rhonda Browning a Nurse Practitioner at a Psychiatrist's office, and since the diagnosis she regularly calls to make sure my anxiety/depression is under control, that I am getting as much sleep as possible, and most importantly just to say Hello and that she is praying for me.

Sorry - this isn't one of my funnier posts, but it has been on my mind for a while, first to explain how this all happened, but more significant was to thank all of the medical professionals involved - without them, their care, knowledge and team effort I would not be on the road to recovery.  You have my deepest respect.... heather