Ileana’s Road to Healing

As many of you know, my mom is my lifeline. My whole entire world. This is very difficult to express and share, but ultimately we need help and have been hit with some very serious and sudden devastating news.

 

On Thursday, June 2nd 2022, I brought my mom in to the emergency room at 7:30 am. She was in excruciating back pain since Sunday May 31st, she also had a very inflamed, bloated abdomen. We had thought it could’ve been gas built up or gastritis. She missed work on Wednesday as the pain was progressing and had not slept much Tuesday night. I bought her gas ex and Prilosec after work Wednesday night in hopes this would alleviate her. Come Thursday morning at 6 am, she comes into my room exhausted and in pain from the whole night. She could not lay or sleep in any which way without major discomfort. She laid down with me for an hour and tried to sleep the pain away until I told her we needed to go to the hospital to get her checked out as she was screaming in pain. We came in at 7:30 am to South Miami Baptist Hospital and they ordered X-rays and a CT scan of her chest and abdomen. Less than an hour later, the ER doctor comes back with the results and advises us they have found a mass on her spine causing this pain. They also found a large mass on her lungs and adrenal glands.. Thankfully, nothing was found in her abdomen. At this time, they advised us they have to admit her into the hospital. This all suggested lung cancer that has metastasized which means it has spread to distant organs. They then request an MRI for further testing and imaging. They confirm with the MRI that this mass on her spine is on the T6 column and pressing on her hard, hence the pain she had been feeling. She was also beginning to feel shooting nerve pain down her right leg as a result of the tumor. They begin giving her steroids to help the inflammation and pain. It is decided by the neurosurgeon (director of thoracic surgery at Baptist) that surgery is required to decompress her spine from this mass. If not, she will continue to feel pain, and there is a high possibility of paralysis and neurological problems. We had come in right on time.

 

She has surgery scheduled Thursday June 9th at 12:15 pm, which will roughly take 5 hours. The neurosurgeon will be going in to remove most of this tumor as he suggested he can. He will work on column T5 and T7 of the spine as most of the tumor has replaced the bone in between T6, he will reconstruct and stabilize her spine with cement and jacks. It is a high risk surgery but it is even riskier to keep this thing in her body. The doctors also requested a brain MRI for further testing. It has been confirmed that the cancer has metastasized to her brain. She has a mass on her right temporal lobe which affects language, behavior and speech. This will also have to be surgically removed at Miami Cancer Institute after she recovers from the spine surgery. But one thing at a time.

 

On Monday June 5th she had a biopsy of the lung mass to determine the specifics of this cancer and possible mutations and tumor markers. We are still awaiting the final results but the preliminary findings confirm this is stage 4 non small cell lung cancer. With the spine surgery, the tumor itself will also be biopsied and sent to pathology for further research so they can know the exact treatment necessary for this type of cancer. They have suggested radiation and chemotherapy can begin in 2-3 weeks as she needs to recover from the spine surgery before beginning that type of treatment. Full recovery for the spine is 12 weeks but the initial recovery is between 5-7 days. She will also have physical therapy after this surgery to give her mobility.

 

We are still in the very early stages of this long and hard journey. She was admitted into the hospital on Thursday last week and I have not left her side since. We are very scared and overwhelmed with this news. Those who know me and know my mom, know how much she means to me and how much we mean to each other. It really is just her and I. She does not have insurance and the financial hardship this is bringing upon us is something we did not expect or anticipate. She will also not be able to work at this time. It is very hard for me to to share this and ask for help, I am a very private person but when your whole world is crashing down.. there is not much you can do. I thank everyone who prays, who reaches out, who helps. Any and all help and healing energy is appreciated and taken with open arms. As I said, this is a very long road ahead of us, especially for her. All contributions will go towards her hospital stay, treatments and surgeries.

 

We thank you all.