Update: Tuesday morning November 18

9 am, Richard is on the way to the hospital, and I will follow shortly. We did get the chance to FINALLY talk to the doctor. The fluid in Marianna's lungs (creating pneumonia) and re-filling her abdomen is called "ascetis" (I hope I got that right) and from the little info we got, the fluid appears to be produced by the cancer itself. The fact that she is filling so quickly with it very likely indicates that the cancer is more agressive than originally believed, which is clearly not good news. Today they will do a cat scan to see what else is happening, it appears her bowel is either still obstructed, or has been impacted by more tumor growth, which adds to her discomfort. Then they will do surgery, which will drain the fluid from her abdomen, and her lungs, and address whatever is found in the cat scan of the bowel. The surgeon was clear that this surgery will make Marianna more comfortable, but we need to be prepared that it does not "fix" her. I'm sorry.

We are in for a long day. I will take my laptop and try to find a "wifi" connection to update as we go along, but please spend the day in prayer. We also face the 2 year anniversary of the loss of Stan on Wednesday the 19th, so it is a tough week all around.

I am sorry that she has been unable to talk much, I know it gives everyone comfort to hear her voice, but she really is having a tough time breathing. Perhaps after the surgery we can get some of you in for short visits, if you do most of the talking....again, thank you for prayers, and your incredible friendship. I am sorry to have to update you with such an impersonal venue as a blog, but we are all very, very grateful that Marianna is blessed with so many loved ones that this is the only way to realistically keep everyone in the loop. May we all be blessed with too many friends to keep up with individually. Our love to you all.
CW