Good News, Bad News

How many times have you heard "Do you want the good news or the bad news first"?  Why is it news is almost always delivered in two parts?

Mom was discharged from the hospital two nights after her biopsy surgery and arrived home Thursday to the comfort of her own couch and bed.  After a couple of days with a roommate who had a love for TV and a very colorful vocabulary, she was delighted for some peace and quiet - or at least as much peace and quiet that our home could offer given the fact that Luca and Ellie were very excited to see their Nan!

Thursday evening is when I got the "good news, bad news" question.  It seems mom had gotten a call from one of the nurses at the U of MN regarding pathology results from the lung biopsy.  If you are like me, you'll want the bad news first so you can end on a good note.

Bad news: Pathology seemed to indicate mom had "Latent Tuberculosis".  This was a bit of a shock given we could not fathom where she might have picked this up.  Per the nurse, this would mean mom wasn't contagious but that many people with latent TB do end up with TB, especially if their immune system is compromised.  More tests would need to be done to confirm or deny that this is what was causing the spots in the lungs.

Good news: The lung spots were not cancer!

Enough said; Mom was itching to get into the OR and get the "damn tumor out"!  Unfortunately, we needed a surgeon for that so we would have to wait for the A-okay from Dr. V.

Friday, we met with mom's oncologist, Dr. Blaes.   We shared a chuckle given the saga of mom's diagnoses and Dr. Blaes explained that she felt latent TB was not the likely culprit but that additional testing would be necessary to rule it out.  We left with the knowledge that both Dr. Blaes and one of he University's infectious disease docs felt that surgery was the next step and that while mom was recovering, we could make more progress on discovering the root cause of the lung spots and how to best treat them.  The final say would be the surgeon's though and he was out of town until Sunday night.  We planned to hear from his office Monday morning for the final decision.

Monday, a text from mom while I was at work: Additional tests for TB were negative and surgery was on for Tuesday.  Arrive at the hospital at 5:30am.

Today, Tuesday, was an early morning for all of us.  Mom was whisked away for pre-op when we arrived and the latest update this afternoon is that things are going as expected.  Kim and I have set up shop in the surgery waiting lounge and are hoping she is comfortably in recovery soon.

Mom has a long haul ahead of her with the next week or more in the hospital and 4-6 weeks of at-home recovery but we are just glad to get the "damn tumor out"!