The first few days.

Friday July 14, 2011:  Sue let us know that Mom was really yellow, and wondered if we had seen her.  I said that we hadn't seen her in about 6 weeks. 

Sunday, July 17, 2011:  We all met at Mom's for Cory's birthday.  She almost glowed in the dark.  Her tan skin seemed the same, but every other part of her that should normally be white was flourescent yellow.  We almost took her to the ER then, but she convinced us that she would see Dr. Kreider on Monday morning.

Monday, July 18th, 2011:  Mom saw Dr. Kreider, who immediately sent her to the hospital to have a CAT Scan.  Dr. suspected that with Mom's level of jaundice, that she had cancer of her bile duct.  

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011:  Mom heard from Dr Kreider that she had a "mass,' in her bile duct, and would need a laparscopic procedure to determine what should be done.  Sue called Dr. Kreider, who explained that Mom had not heard all of her diagnosis, and that Cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct cancer, was suspected.  Mom was believed to be in stage 4 or later.

Wednesday, July 20th (today).  We went with mom to meet her surgeon who will do an ERCP on Thursday.  He discussed frankly with her that this is probably inoperable, and most likely fatal.  He advised her to get her affairs in order.


And that's where we are.