First, both Leaves on the Current and I are very appeciiative of the love, support and prayers that have been offered. We are also grateful for all the offers of help, which so far we do not need to accept
Our house is less than a ten minute walk from the hospital, so I can easily take time to go home and care for our cats.
With a sister who is a primary care physician's assistant and a best friend who is a graduate of Hopkins Medical School, we also have access to medical expertise to help guide us through.
Which given that they still do not know what is going on, is important.
Please continue below the fold as I attempt to explain.
The immediate reason for going directly to the emergency room last night is that the mass had seriously destabilized her spine at the area of T12 - L1. They worried that if she fell she might seriously hurt herself. That is why the immediate treatment with steroids to reduce the pressure the mass was causing.
Where we are at - is that we don't know until a biopsy, which will not be until tomorrow (they were heavily booked with scheduled appointments because today is Monday).
The CT scan showed no organ damage. A small ovarian cyst was noted, and she is being tested for the markers for ovarian cancer, but it is highly unlikely that ovarian cancer would spread to the bones.
It is in theory possible that the entire cause is in the bones, but that is considered highly unlikely.
They will do the biopsy tomorrow and then evaluate. We were already told early today that there would be no surgery before Wednesday at the earliest, and are now being told that if they can treat whatever is causing the problem without surgery they will.
In the meantime, Leaves will be here in the hospital at least for the rest of the week. Her (Orthodox) priest came around noon. By then we knew she would not even get the biopsy today, so he heard her confession and gave her Holy COmmunion. He then stayed and chatted for a while.
Some dear friends from her church, where the wife has been battling breast cancer, sent some lovely flowers.
Our brother-in-law, married to the PA sister and who is temporarily working in the DC area, is probably going to stop by tonight. Other than him and a call from that sister this evening, Leaves is still not ready to handle visitors or calls, although she and I thank all those who have offered to.
I am tired - did not get much sleep last night. Probably will do a bit better tonight. I am going to go home for several hours to spend some time with the cats, primarily by napping and letting them crawl all over me.
I will probably next let people know when we get the results of the biopsy and some other tests they are running, sometime tomorrow.
In the meantime, thanks again for your support.
Sorry I cannot respond to every comment. I have read them all and shared many with Leaves.
Peace.