My beautiful daughter

Dear Byron, Lainy, and Cathy, Thank you for your prayers and warm wishes. I send the same back to you. Lauren started out having pain in her right side early this year. It came and went and we thought it was her gallbladder. She went to one of the doctors in the family practice we go to. He ordered an ultrasound, but told her he thought her pain was from having bad posture and she needed physical therapy. She had the ultrasound and the doctor never called us with the results. So we figured nothing was wrong. Then, life went on until August. Lauren wanted me to call and get her a doctor’s appt. because she still didn’t feel that well and her side and back still were bothering her. She seemed to get full really fast and felt kind of bloaty. I had kept telling her to make another appointment before this, but she kept putting it off thinking it was just her back. The doctor she saw before was on vacation, so they told us we could get appt. at another office. I think that was a blessing to us. The next doctor looked at the ultrasound report from the previous doctor and could not believe he never notified us. It said she had a large mass occupying much of the right lobe, caudate lobe, and medial left lobe of the liver. He ordered lab tests and a CT scan. This also showed what they called a huge mass on her liver. Like 12×14 cm. He referred us to a gasroenterologist, who promptly referred us to the Cleveland Clinic. My daughter, Kristen, is a 3rd year anesthesiology resident at University of Michigan Hospitals. She spoke with a liver specialist there and he got us in to see him really quick. So instead of going to the Cleveland Clinic, we went to Michigan. She has had a chest CT, MRI, liver biopsy, and PET scan there. He broke the news to us that Lauren had bile duct cancer. He also told us that her main tumor was the size of a cantelope. He said at this time it is unresectable. He referred us to an oncologist that said it is uncureable and nobody lives past five years. It felt like he was being mean, but he wasn’t giving us false hope. The liver specialist seemed more optimistic, so we are going along with his thinking. Lauren started a clinical trial where she gets Gemcitabine, Cisplatin, and Fluorouracil every 2 weeks. The Fluorouracil is given for 48 hrs. through a pump she wears. She has had one treatment so far. We are going back to Michigan for another treatment this Monday. She has gone on a medical leave at her job and I have quit mine to take care of her. She is on morphine and hydrocodone for pain. Takes morphine 2xday. Hydrocodone as needed. She takes Zofran, compazine, and ativan for nausea. The main pain she had after chemo was headache, shoulder pain, her regular right side pain, and constipation. She is like a new girl this week. She feels so much better. I f anyone has any more questions, ask away. I told Lauren about this website and she is going to sign up too. Then you can talk to her. We live in Uniontown, Ohio (close to Canton). So we travel a long way for her care. (200 miles each way). But we think it is the best care she can get, so we will continue. We are optimistic she will be with us for a long time. Thanks for listening. -Pam