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I have not felt really well for sometime ~ I thought I was fighting a low grade infection or some thing. On February 26th, without understanding what what happening, I suddenly and rapidly grew very weak and could not breath ~ I was able to summons my husband who immediately called 911, thank heavens for me.

Somehow, thru bleeding internally unknowingly and for an apparent extended period of time, I had lost most of the blood in my body. I was critical upon admittance to the emergency room, with the hospital telling us that while a normal woman has between a count of 12 to 16 and that mine was barely 6 ~ that had I not been rushed to the hospital and received the immediate transfusion, I'd have not made it thru the night.

The following week brought me 3 surgical procedures and was been filled a number of invasive, painful and downright scary tests, which have produced some not very pleasant and quite sobering preliminary findings. The tests showed I have several small masses in my brain, a number of growths in my esophagus and upper lung area and at least one large mass in my right lung.

During one of the procedures they preformed while I was hospitalized they were able to gather a lot of tissue from the growths in my esophagus and upper lung area and when the lab pathologies finally came back a week or so later , my pulmonary specialists were totally baffled. The pathologies all came back as NO CANCER!!! (Thank you for all the FReeper Prayers that brought me through that trial). It was totally a different result from what they anticipated ~ the growth are definitely there and they are multiple and large, but these areas do not appear at all to be cancerous.

I spent about a week in the hospital recovering from the bleeding ulcers (which, thankful, did not require further surgery to stop the bleeding ~ again, thank you for FReeper prayers) and from the 2 other procedures they'd preformed (one of which required them to cut my throat) ~ needless to say it was a really tough week for both my husband and myself. (to say nothing of my poor dog who only knew that six big men burst into our home and swept his "mom" away)

Since they had not biopsies the masses in my brain nor the large one in my lower lung, and since there seemed to be a number of masses, the doctors decided the best course of action was run a bunch more tests to see what all we were dealing with before we planned out a course of treatment. So over the past couple weeks I have been undergoing countless tests, cat scans, MRI's, sonograms and some I can't even start to explain or understand. What is scary at this point is that each new test seems to reveal a new problem area. It now appears that I also have lesions on my adrenal glands, and another mass in my pelvic area. Additionally, I am still way low on my blood ~ I'd lost some of the transfused blood during the procedures and I am still only at 8.1 units. Further tests show that my body is replacing my blood and doing what it's suppose to in that area but it is going so much slower than I'd hoped. I can't seem to muster any strength and feeling so weak for so long is really starting to tick me off! (lol)

I am scheduled for one more "look-see" test early tomorrow morning. This one is called a PET-scan ~ they inject your blood with radio-active sugar and after about an hour you lay in their big machine for a half hour while they track where it goes through your body. As I understand it, this test is supposed to give the doctors the information they need about all of these masses to determine and, hopefully, move forward with whatever procedure and/or treatment deemed appropriate.

My FR voice has grown a bit quieter over the past few weeks as I've not had the strength to go online. I miss "being with" y'all on a daily basis! I miss the humor and I miss the insightful, often poignant dialogue I've witnessed here. I hope, as my strength returns, I will be able to be back on a more regular basis! Realistically, though, I'm afraid my voice here may well grow even quieter over next few next few months ~ hell, it may actually be silenced once and for all, but whatever the future brings I know I am walking with God and will happily and gratefully go where ever He leads me. (for now I hope that is back to strength ~ I've some beautiful grandchildren I'm not done playing with yet!) I also know I give thanks for having had such a great chance to 'meet' such wonderful kindred spirits!! You've each added a very special dimension to my life that is a blessing in and of itself!! Thank each of you for your work and your commitment to keeping this great nation free and strong. I'm proud to have shared so much of this journey with you and hold you each dearly in my heart. (((((thank you)))))

PS ~ I am providing my husband with the name and phone number of a FReeper so that in case he can get an update to y'all if I cannot. I am also providing a couple of FReepers with my personal info so they can contact my husband or I if they'd like.