What has happend so far...

Over the past several months Betsy hasn’t been feeling well. She couldn’t quite pin down why, so working with her primary care practitioner, Rosie Ayerle, Betsy began a series of diagnostic tests and exams to identify the problem.

In early May, Betsy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and referred to Charles Boice, M.D. After an initial consultation and examination on May 8, Dr. Boise recommended Betsy undergo surgery, to remove the offending organ, which would then be followed by chemotherapy.

Betsy presented herself for surgery at the Washington Hospital Center - Washington, DC on May 17. Though originally scheduled for 2:00 PM, due to the length of time spent in surgery prior to Betsy’s, Dr. Boice was unable to begin Betsy’s procedure until 9:00PM.

He estimated that her procedure would take approximately four hours and , true to his word, shortly after 1:00AM he appeared in the waiting area to let family members know the outcome.

The surgery went as planned; however, Betsy’s cancer was not localized to the ovaries, but rather is more diffused in the abdomen. Dr. Boice will have different tissue samples analyzed so he can determine the best chemotherapy protocol to employ. He hopes to begin chemotherapy before Betsy is discharged from the hospital.

It was well after 2:00 AM Sunday morning May 18th when I got home.

I, Andrew and Kevin visited Betsy later, early in the afternoon. We arrived at her room shortly after she did. It turns out the staff in the post anesthesia care unit opted to keep her intubated through the night .

When we arrived, the PACU staff, for whom Betsy had high praise, was just departing her room. They asked Betsy to assess her pain (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the least),which Betsy gauged as 3. At first I thought that the self administered morphine may have been coming into play, but Betsy assured me that her pain wasn’t bad.

For well over a week leading up to her surgery Betsy hadn’t slept well. So we didn't stay too long in favor of letting her catch up on her sleep so her body could begin t0 recover from surgery.

It was obvious to me that she was feeling so much better and hearing her say so had us leaving feeling better as well.

Betsy knows that I'm blogging about her battle with cancer and she's going to be reading this. So if you want to wish her well this is a good place to do that.

Dr. Boice will have a better handle on things on Monday and as I learn more I'll post updates here . So come back regularly and please keep Betsy in your prayers.