Thursday, 5/12/22

Hey everyone. First, thank you for your love and prayers. Mom feels them and is moved by just how many of you have already been supportive. Staying positive and optimistic will be a major factor going forward, so please keep it coming. Humor works wonders too, as you know. Like many, we avoid seriousness with humor in this family, but we'll need help in that department also. Lightness is a great distraction from the reality. Mom's faith is strong, and we're believing God for a miracle. 

We'll keep this blog updated, so please check here as often as you like. You may also leave messages here, and Mom will read them.  

Here's the story so far:

For the last couple of years, Mom had been getting B12 shots for fatigue. Her doctor took her off the shot, but told her to take B12 supplements as needed. Within the last 2 or 3 months, the supplement wasn't doing the trick. She was getting tired much easier and more frequently. So, she went to her primary care doctor and had blood work done.  That was on Friday, 5/6/22.  On Monday, 5/9/22, the doctor called and told her to go to the emergency room immediately.  That was at about 5pm, and she was admitted a little after midnight.  They did many more blood tests throughout Tuesday, 5/10/22, including a bone marrow biopsy.  At this point, we were told they were going through the process of ruling things out, but she was prescribed an oral chemo drug and moved to the oncology unit.  At that point, of course, we knew it was cancer.  They said the bone marrow results would tell us what kind, but those results wouldn't be back until Friday or later. On Wednesday, 5/11/22, her Oncologist came into her room and explained what it was, and gave us the plan. 

She's been diagnosed with AML M3. Feel free to research that if you need to know the technical information. Basically, her red blood cells are not maturing enough to do their job. She also has a dangerously low white blood cell count. Because of her age, it's especially difficult to recover from this disease. If she had waited even a few more days to go to the ER, she may not have lived longer than two weeks. But the doctor was optimistic that she could survive it because of her active lifestyle and otherwise good health. A few other things are also in her favor: Of the types of AML, this is the one that is most survivable; She got to the hospital early enough that they were able to jump start the chemo treatment; She is willing to fight it in all the ways she's told to: positive attitude, prayer, support system, resting, eating right, walking daily, etc. True to our Sugie, she's not playing around with this. She's mad-determined, and if you know her well, you know she's scary when she's mad, so this disease doesn't have a chance.

So, the doctor said to anticipate being in the hospital for 40 days, give or take. She's obviously not happy with that since she's a goer and a doer. We've brought her plenty of her stuff, so she won't get bored, but she feels like she's trapped. She made this clear to her doctor and nurses, but they basically said too bad. So her main goal is to get out in less than 40.

Thank you, again, for all the love and prayers. We'll keep you updated here.