Lynn: The Inside Scoop

My sister-in-law, Lynn, has been going through a bit of an ordeal lately. I'm reporting here because Lynn asked me to. She knows people are concerned and it's so easy for stories to get muddled, so here's the scoop, straight from the source.

Last Tuesday Lynn had some stomach pains. She took some Tylenol and didn't worry too much about it.

Last Thursday the pain got worse and Tylenol was no longer working. Lynn and Darrel were in Kyle for a funeral and by the time it ended Lynn was in a great deal of pain. Darrel took her to Rosetown where the Doctor said her uterus was enlarged and he sent her in to Emergency at the University Hospital. There she had some tests and was given morphine to get the pain under control. The Doctors found a "mass" in or around her uterus. It's about the size of a grapefruit or a softball! EEEK!!

Lynn was admitted last Thursday to the hospital and she finally got out this afternoon. The pain is under control and she's not even taking Tylenol right now. She is experiencing discomfort, though, probably because the "mass" is pushing on various organs.

So here's what's happening now. She scheduled for surgery next Friday, May 13. While it's disappointing that Lynn will have to wait that long for surgery, there are some good reasons for it as the doctors explained. The doctors said they could do emergency surgery immediately but they felt it would be better to wait until they can be sure all the various people they would like to have on their surgical team are available at the same time. That means scheduling operating room time and coordinating that with the availability of a gynecological surgeon, a cancer surgeon, and a pathologist (forgive me if they have different titles - I'm sure you get the idea). The doctors can't tell what the "mass" is right now. They won't really know until they get in there and because they want to be prepared for the worst possible scenario ... just in case ... they want to have all these specialists in place so that whatever needs to be done can be done at once. That said, there is a reasonable possibility that the mass is a benign thing and that once it's removed, all will be fine. It's very good, though, that the doctors will be prepared for the possibility of finding cancer when they get in there. Please, please, PLEASE don't be cancer! Often they are benign so we'll just keep that thought in mind.

So, as things stand now, we won't know what that "mass" is until after the surgery. I know what this waiting game is like and how the imagination can go wild, which is VERY draining. We're just going to try hard NOT to think of worst case scenarios and focus on hoping that this mass is benign.

Everybody please say a little prayer for Lynn! And cross fingers and toes and whatever else you can manage!