The Dewey Family

It is with an absolute crushed heart that I say, our Melanie passed away today (7/9/20)at 3:30pm  . 
The family will continue to need your prayers & support as they try to understand how someone so beautiful inside & out , could be taken so suddenly. 30 days is all we had to process her diagnosis. It is going to take a lifetime for us to understand & come to terms with this. Please pray for her family. Lance, Rossleigh & Mrs. Patti , i know you will not read this for some time, but know that your "metroplex" of family & friends are here. We will help guide you as 
as you need.

As most of y'all know the last month has been a whirlwind of twist, turns & information regarding this sweet family. 
My hope for this page is to help them in any way we can. Having some funds available for medical bills is a blessing for sure. They will have a lot of them coming in for both Melanie's surgery & hospital stays & for Rossleigh's surgery & hospital stays. If donations takes even the smallest of burden from their shoulders, then we have done all we can as family & friends.

For those of you who may not know, I will try to tell you about the Dewey's.
One of the sweetest, most loving group of people I have ever had the privilege to meet & have in my life. 
This page was originally discussed when their 7 year old daughter , Rossleigh was heading in for her second open heart surgery.  We decided to start a meal train,      just to take the burden off of Melanie & Lance's mind, so they could 100% focus on  that sweet girl getting through her surgery & into recovery. 
As hoped, Rossleigh crushed it! She bounced back from that & has been doing amazing. 
Now, lets back up to a few weeks prior to Rossleigh's surgery. 
Mel was having some pain that would not go away & was continuing to get worse. After being treated in the ER, she was told her gallbladder needed to be removed. Not the news you want to hear when your a few short weeks away from your daughter having a major operation. In true Mel fashion, she wasn't gonna have any doctor tell her to wait. So, a surgeon was booked & on her 40th birthday, the gallbladder was removed. This was 8 days prior to Rossleigh's surgery. 
Everyone is preparing for the next hurdle, Mel is recovering & all is OK.  Fast forward to me just wanting to do something! As a lot of other friends & family wanted to do, so I got on the phone with my bestest friend & we were supposed to discuss the meal train.
  You know how when someone starts talking, you just know something is off...this is happening! I can hear in Mel's voice that she's not her normal super happy self. I can't "hear" her smile. She then drops the bombshell of cancer. 
Ummm...what?! No ma'am! I wanted to hang up the phone & start that conversation over again, but here we are discussing how the pathology report came back from the gallbladder & it is showing cancer. I am kicking into "lets look at the bright side mode" saying how, Ok..they removed the cancer, we can get follow ups done & just keep an eye on you. You got this!  Then she quickly shuts  up  my rambling, to say it was metastatic cancer, meaning it did not start in the gallbladder. This stops my world once again.  From that moment it was a blur of test, screenings, mammograms & blood work. All of this while her daughter is kicking her surgery recovery's A$$! 

Now, the oncologist tells her the diagnosis, prognosis & game plan. She has stage 4 Estrogen-/Progesterone-/HER -2+ breast cancer & liver cancer.  With her game plan in place, Mel was to start her first round of Chemo on July 8th. More test were ran & chemo port was placed. All the while, Mel is not feeling good, she is tired,  not eating,  nauseated & just not herself.  Everyone is thinking its pure exhaustion from trying to recover from surgery & mentally recovering from her daughter's surgery.  

On July 6th things are not better, shes unable to keep anything down & after a virtual visit with her PCP, Mel is told to head to the ER.  The next 2 days are a blur of scans, lab work & sonograms. It is determined that she is dealing with a toxic infection from the gallbladder surgery. She is admitted for monitoring & strong antibiotics, this is necessary before starting chemo. 

July 7th, Mel is moved to ICU for low blood pressure, low blood sugar & high potassium.  We are all stunned & confused, but hopeful. From this moment, things happen & happen at a lighting pace. We are told her liver & kidneys are failing. The liver cancer is extremely aggressive causing her liver enzymes to be very high. Doctors put in a line to start dialysis, needing to clean her blood & get the toxins out, so her kidneys will start to work again.  She is awake, but very weak. 

July 8th,  Mel is a little more awake, even  a bit cranky for being in a hospital alone (COVID rules ) We take this as a good sign! Shes awake & talking with family.  We are all hopeful she will continue to get better & start the fight with chemo.  She is even being moved from this hospitals ICU to the main hospital downtown Fort Worth to the oncology department. GOOD NEWS! yay! 

Here is where things go from hopeful to WTF!?  After Mel is transferred & settled in the oncology floor
downtown, everyone is settling in for the night.
Due to COVID, family is still unable to stay overnight with her.
Sometime last night/early AM, Mel takes a turn for the worst. She is found by nursing staff to be unresponsive.
They intubate her & she is placed on life support & transferred to Cardiac ICU.  Her mother, husband & daughter are called to the hospital.  The oncologist is going to try all they can, but for now, please pray.
  
Thank you, 
Elisha Wrobel