Tina's Troopers Against Small Cell Lung Cancer

Hi, I'm Rudi. My closest relatives know me as Toot. "Rudi Toot Toot." For as far back as I can remember, my mom signed all of our greeting cards, letters, etc. as Tina and Toot. It was always mom and me. I didn't have siblings, so she was my best friend for the majority of my life, whether I fully realized it or not. Without getting into the unnecessary details, she raised me as a single mom. She worked long, hard hours waitressing for years, she melted away working at different factory lines, and she even did carpentry for some time. My mom always held down a full time job, kept the house clean, made amazing meals for many, kept a tidy yard, and still found time to invest in me. She struggled an awful lot, but she always did whatever she could to ensure that I had what I needed - that I was safe, taken care of, and loved.

Fast forward to late October 2022, where we started an unexpected journey in which I was (and am) determined to extend the same love and the same feeling of safety that my mom gave me all the years. However, I am only one gal. As much as I try to do anything and everything I can manage at my own will, I've come to realize we need more help. The medical bills, the 3 hour round trips to appointments and treatments, sick leave running out, not being able to work, and still needing to pay for utilities and groceries are not only financial drains, but mental drains when you have extra time on your plate to worry. I know that only God gets to dictate when my mom will depart this earth, but in the meantime, I want to eliminate as much worry for her as I can. I want my mom to focus on doing the best she can manage during her treatments.

Thus far, we have been blessed with good results and minimal affects from procedures and treatments. Each good day is another little victory, another miracle. We are beyond grateful for anything that you give - from prayers to shares, and everything in between.

Many of you have been following along with the story and her updates on my personal Facebook. For those who haven't, here is the story. I will do my best to post updates as we continue onward.

*************************

My mom, Tina, started experiencing the strangest boughts of loss of balance, dizziness, and nausea. She called in sick to work Thursday, October 27th, and called me Saturday the 29th violently ill. I went and stayed with her all that weekend trying to get her rehydrated and convinced to go to the hospital. Stubbornly, we took more conservative measures, but after several more weeks of misdiagnosis of vertigo and/or vestibular neuritis and treating the terrible and never-ending likes of that, I begged her to let me take her to the hospital because nothing was helping her get better. She had lost a good amount of weight and was becoming too weak to get anywhere. This time, she said yes.

The evening of November 21st, our worlds flipped upside down. Her CT scans revealed a sizeable tumor in the back of her head that was pressing on her brain (her cerebellum) causing the loss of balance, dizziness, and nausea. They were quite certain it was cancerous and metastatic (came from somewhere else). Nothing could be certain without an MRI, so we were transferred to a larger hospital to seek further help. The culprit had been found but that terrible "C" word was even more horrifying to fathom.

They determined the tumor, if not removed, would be fatal in cutting off the blood supply to her brain, sooner rather than later. We spent the week of Thanksgiving in the hospital, awaiting the surgery with risks that held the same weight as not pursuing any surgery. During that time, they also found that she had an even larger mass in her lung, pointing further in the direction of cancer, and was more than likely the starting point of it all.

Monday, November 28th, mom had her brain surgery and it was a success. She was almost immediately relieved of her dizziness and nausea, but we were told her balance may take some time to regain. The pathology from the tumor came back several days later. It confirmed all the findings and finalized our fears - stage 4 small cell lung cancer. She spent the next week recovering, battling low blood pressure, overcoming the PTSD of eating and not losing her food, and working on balance. December 4th, she was discharged to go home.

It was good to be home! However, the next several weeks consisted of lots of traveling back and forth to appointments with her oncologist and radiologist. She had a PET scan that came back with great encouragement: no other sites, other than her lung, showed signs of cancer!! She had the staples removed from her brain surgery, as well as a brain MRI That showed she was healing well. From there, she had her first round of chemotherapy (3 consecutive days of infusion). We were so grateful that she did not experience the typical nausea and vomiting that so many people suffer with during their chemo treatments. December was definitely filled with encouraging blessings that we considered great Christmas gifts and well wishes into our new year.

Most recently, she got her port placed in her chest (as to not create so much wear and tear on her arms with labs and infusions). She also started radiation on the brain tumor site - 5 rounds of that is to be administered throughout January. Our next round of chemo is in less than a week.

So, as you can see, our lives have turned into a calendar full of treatments, labs, appointments, and trying to find recovery somewhere in between. She still suffers with balance issues, low blood pressure, and getting incredibly winded. The doctors insure us that this will probably be typical for the foreseeable future.

When she survived her brain surgery, I asked her, again, if she was wanting to continue pursuing treatment. She said, "If God brought me through this, he must not be done with me yet. Let's keep going." As I have already said before, as long as she is willing to stand (no matter how wearily) I will stand right next to her bearing my sword.

Stand up and bear swords with us. Your gifts of love, prayers, and encouragement are helping us in this fight!