Clay got checked into the Panama City Beach office of the Bay Medical ER and by chance (or not) his Dr. was one that he knew from his days at Sacred Heart Port St. Joe. The doctor never comes to that ER – he’s the Bay Medical ER director – but happened to be working there the day Clay decided to go get checked out.
Blood levels were low, but not alarmingly low, but the larger concern was what was causing the blood in his stool and why was he having such extreme abdominal pain. They ordered more labs and a CT scan of his abdomen. The CT scan came back and showed enlarged lymph nodes – which were suspicious of being Lymphoma. We were still thinking that the abdominal pain was caused by some bleeding from the December 11 endoscopy – since a polyp was removed and biopsied. He was admitted to the hospital overnight for observation, and transferred by “ambulance” (loosely used term – it was a $1,000 van ride) to Bay Medical downtown.
We got to the ER, watched some TV (a Friend’s marathon was on) and waited. The GI doctor on call never showed. I was reluctant to leave until we had some type of plan, and finally (being a pushy wife) convinced Clay to text our friend from church who’s a Nurse Practitioner in the GI practice to see if he thought we’d see a doctor that night. He confirmed that we would not see anyone since it was now 8:00pm, but said he’d let the doctor on call the next morning know about us and give him a heads up.
Next thing we know, the doctor who is on call the next morning has already looked over Clay’s chart, decided to repeat the endoscopy and do a colonoscopy the next morning. Poor Clay had just eaten something an hour before – first food all day – and now was told no more food, and drink a gallon of “Go Lytley”. He had a super exciting night.
The next morning, the endoscopy and colonoscopy showed masses in his abdominal region around the enlarged lymph nodes – consistent with Lymphoma. The GI doctor took samples and sent them off for pathology review and report. But he and the hospitalist doctor believed what they found was a form of cancer – probably a type of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma – based on their knowledge and previous experience. Nothing was certain until they got the reports back from pathology.
I got to the hospital around 9am, and Clay basically said “well, I have cancer” then immediately left to go get a chest CT scan. Horrible timing. So I started doing what I do best – research. I looked at the LLS.org website as well as looking at MD Anderson’s website (if anyone says “cancer” I always think of MD Anderson as being the best of the best of cancer experts). Turns out they have a branch in Jacksonville, FL. So I requested an appointment for Clay to go see a specialist at the Jacksonville MD Anderson Cancer Center.
They finally released Clay from the hospital for us to try to get home and salvage some of our Christmas spirit with the kids – and he was so anxious to get out the hospital, he rode down in the wheelchair with his blankets wrapped around him. When he got to the door to get into the car, he stood up from the wheelchair and realized he did not have on any pants…he was just in his boxer briefs. So that was exciting.