The Big Week

This will not be the most eloquent of posts as it is being written by phone while I sit at my new home: Cochrane Lab Services. However, I know many of you have been curious regarding my silence the last few weeks so it’s time for a quick update. 

A few weeks back I had some routine blood work done to check for ovarian cancer. This is another lovely bonus that comes with my BRCA1 mutation so we keep an eye on it. I’d also been experiencing symptoms similar to anemia so my Doctor had thrown a couple of extra blood tests in there just to see how things were going. My body is apparently full of surprises because my test results showed that I was not anemic but on the brink of toxaemia. My liver numbers were far above their boundary of 50 and were partying hard at 396. Obviously this sent me into a new whirlwind of emergency ultrasounds and multiple blood tests. While additional testing showed that my numbers were slowly falling they still remained dangerously high and there was a new test stating that I had tested positive for an obscure virus. Yesterday my doctor confirmed that I have Mono-Hepatitis. There’s a much fancier term for it but the bottom line is that somewhere along the line I got Mono and it decided to attack my liver. My Doctor asked if I had an idea when I potentially contracted Mono and I told her that I’ve been ridiculously tired for 5 years so I truly had no idea! Hahahah. The next question then was whether or not I would be able to proceed with my surgery this Friday. Thankfully a consult with internal medicine specialists confirmed that my surgery is safe to proceed with as planned. 

I’m thankful to say that I have made huge progress and today I have felt almost back to my pre-surgery normal. I’m trying to do some minor preparations around the house before getting knocked back down for a couple of weeks. Thursday I will be having a Nuclear Sentinel Node Injection and Scan to see if the main lymph node near the tumour shows any signs of cancer. If it comes back clear I will then have my scheduled dissection surgery on Friday at which point they will remove 15-20 lymph nodes to check for cancer. The recover is approximately 2 weeks. 

In the course of all of this chaos my mom’s father passed away and the aftermath, responsibilities and memorial service have made it impossible for her to come to Canada at this time. However, Andrew's mom has graciously offered to take a week off of work to come take care of me so that Andrew can continue working without having to worry about me. We are so thankful as this will be a huge relief for us both. 

So this is our most recent whirlwind. We have been so well cared for and God continues to provide for us physically and spiritually. We are loved abundantly. 

I’ll keep you posted as the days unfold! 

Rachel