“Happiness Can Be Found Even In The Darkest Of Times If One Only Remembers To Turn On The Light.”
-Albus Dumbledore
A Day We Will Always Remember
A little background:
On January 20, 2025, we met with the doctor because Corey had not been feeling well for a couple of weeks. He said that he was feeling miserable because the itching was so bad. His blood pressure was taken twice: it was 151/83 and then 157/76, and his oxygen level was 87%. He then showed the doctor a large lump under his left arm. This doctor usually has something to say, but all he said was that he needed a scan of it. He was unusually quiet for a long period of time. He ordered a CT scan with contrast and extensive blood work, and we left without a lot of answers. I knew at this point that something was wrong.
The Patient Portal notified us that the blood work was available on or around January 20th & 21st. The blood work showed very high levels for his white bloods cells. So I called the doctors office and asked to speak to the doctor or his medical assistant.
After reviewing the blood work with the medical assistant we both decided to have Corey come back in and go over the results with the doctor before getting a CT Scan with contrast.
The follow-up appointment was on January 29th. The doctor went over the blood work and started using scary words ie; cancer, etc. Corey’s oxygen level was very low & he had a high fever. The doctor said he wanted to admit Corey that night for further tests. At this time we knew and felt that something was horribly wrong.
We drove to the IHC in Murray and have never made it through the intake very quickly. His oxygen was in the 70s, his fever was 104° F. Within less than 10 minutes he was put on oxygen and wheeled to an intake room. They took an EKG, did massive blood work, asked us a few questions and then escorted us into a room.
Within 45 minutes we had the ER doctor in the room with us. He asked a question that will forever be remembered. He said “It looks like you had a chest CT scan in August of 2023. Did anyone talk to you about those results?” We told him the doctor who went over the results with us at the follow-up appointment only mentioned COPD from smoking, prescribed 2 inhalers, and told him he made his bed now he has to lay in it. The ER doctor slowly nodded and just said “OK.” But it was in a way that meant there was more that should have been discussed. I later checked the CT results and read that the doctor who reviewed the CT Scan and sent the results to our PCP notated on the test that swollen/enlarged lymph nodes are present and to follow-up. The PCP doctor notes from that follow-up visit only notated the COPD.
The ER doctor sent him in for another Chest CT. That night we received the worse news anyone can ever get. Corey has Lymphoma. Until he could get a biopsy they couldn’t tell us anymore. So the next day, January 30th, they made the decision to go in and surgically remove the swollen lymph nodes for better testing. He had two enlarged lymph nodes under his left arm. One was the size of a baseball and the other was the size of a gold ball.
Corey was sent home to wait for the biopsy results and had an appointment scheduled with the Oncologist on February 10th at 10 AM. Those were the longest 11 days of our lives.
Behind The Brown Door 