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I regret to tell you all that my wonderful loving wife and mother of our three young girls Cheryl Newell passed away on Jan 8th. Cheryl loved this board and gained support from many of you.
She was hospitalized on Christmas Day with shortness of breath. They found fluid on her right lung and so they drained what they could with a small tube ( 2 liters )but there was so much cancer there that they needed to do surgery and a talc powder procedure where they use talcom powder to seal the lung against the chest wall. This procedure also didn't work and within two days the cancer had spread to her other lung. The fluid just continued to build up and the doctors suggested we take her to a hospice facility where she only lasted less than 24 hours.
Cheryl and I got a week to talk while she was in the hospital and for her to prepare herself for God and although she fought so hard, she was ready to be with her lord and savior. (Something that I thought I would never hear her say as she was so determined to beat this)
Now please hear this as this is something Cheryl wanted each of you to know. Cheryl was told in August of this year that her original oncologist was mistaken when he had told her that the cancer had spread to her bones. Her new Oncologist told her she didn't need Chemo because she was "cancer free". Of course this gave Cheryl what we believed to be a miracle from God. Time after time, month after month, Cheryl continued to tell the doctor of more pain she was having and each time the doctor would have some excuse as to why this pain existed always sticking to her belief that it was not cancer. Even when we went in on Xmas Day the doctor told her that her scans were clear. When Cheryl complained that she could barely breath the doctor sent her for an X-Ray. When we returned, the doctor told us "I don't know how I missed it but when I went back and looked at your CT Scan from Dec 22nd, I now see the fluid and a couple of nodules. ( I later saw the scan and there was 19 nodules!) This doctor was telling us 2 weeks before the cancer spread so much that it took her life that she didn't have metastic bone cancer! PLEASE,PLEASE, don't depend on your doctor! Trust what your body is telling you and get a 2nd, 3rd and even 4th opinion if it doesn't seem right. I am now left to raise our three girls and I had to watch my wife suffer in her final two weeks because of a incompentent Oncologist. Beware, there are more of them out there than we know. Demand answers! Demand attention! You all provided so much comfort and hope for Cheryl and it was important to her that I speak bluntly to you all so that maybe someone else won't suffer because of a horrible oncologist. This one was from a major cancer center so don't think just because you are being treated at a 1st class facility that this won't happen to you. Many simply don't take the time to really understand each patients entire situation.
May God Bless you all and protect you from this horrible disease. I've learned that when my wife had cancer, the entire family has cancer and it affects every aspect of your life.
Guys, cherich and protect your ladies. They need us!
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