Here’s What We Know from the Emergency Room

I had originally intended to wait until Friday to make this post (You will understand why as you continue reading). Events under the superintending eye of the Lord, however, have overrun my plans and made it important to share all of this now.

A month ago I discovered a lump under my arm while showering. I asked my chiropractor about it the next day and she urged me to get it checked out. I did so on the following day and the Clinic Dr. scheduled me for an immediate CT scan and a biopsy was scheduled for about a week later.

Biopsy indicated Metastatic Melanoma. So a schedule was set up for this week Monday (CT and PET Scan) Wednesday, MRI of the brain (I guess to be sure I had one) and Friday my first meeting with a oncologist.

After two wonderful days with the grandkids during which I felt pretty cruddy (minor headache and joint aches and general feeling of blah) We celebrated my birthday (75th) Grandson’s 8tha and Valentines day. See previous post. I did have a slight headache that seemed to be exacerbated by leaning over or when coughing or sneezing. I never get headaches and so that was strange but I attributed to whatever was causing the flu symptoms.

I left my girlfriend in Davenport on Sunday and came home to be ready for 8AM PET Scan today. Scan went well and I got permission from my girlfriend and daughter to get some doughnuts on the way home. Dunkin Doughnuts provided two jelly doughnuts and two bavarian creme doughnuts. I arrived at home, made a cup of coffee and ate two of the doughnuts, breathed a sigh of happiness and contentment and then the phone rang.

• “Radiologist discovered an incidental brain bleed on your scan, is there anyone there with you?”
• Me: My cat, Hairy, is here.
• “You need to go to the emergency room as quickly as you can, is there someone who can drive you?
• Me: No, but I can drive myself.
• “No, we can’t have you do that, is there someone you can call or can you get an ambulance?
• Me: Probably not, but I’ll drive, it’s not that far.
• “Not really a good idea Mr. Jeske”
• Me: OK, I’ll figure it out.
• OK, they will be waiting for you there.

I got in my car and droved ;-). Arriving at the ER I was immediately placed in a wheel chair and rushed into an examination room. Lots of stuff started happening at once with Dr.s and nurses running in and out, fitting me with enough wires to make an impressive antenna system and jabbing my arm taking stuff out and putting stuff in. All the while asking me questions and having me perform silly things like squeezing their fingers, trying to push their hand up or down, and ticking my tongue out. I demonstrated that I could roll my tongue and was told that gave me extra points! When I was a kid, Mitch Miller had a program where you could sing along by following the bouncing ball which would move from word to word so you could sing the lyrics. We played that game on at least three occasions today with the Dr.’s finger.

Dubuque Mercy sent my CT scans to Iowa City for the neurologist to read (we don’t have a neurologist in Dubuque) and he said, “Send him down right away”. So we hopped into the ambulance. I wanted to drive and bring the other guys along just in case but they would not allow that. So we are 80 miles from home at the Iowa University Hospital. The 90 minute ambulance ride gave me a wonderful opportunity for an extended discussion about the Gospel with am an who said “I don’t have any spiritual life but I feel like the door is always open for some future date.” My response was, “The door may close before the end of the day … you of all people should know that. You deal with life and death every day and know how fragile life is. You could die before you get home tonight and then the door will no longer be open. The man knows what is required of him now and I challenged him regarding his response. Before he left I said, “Think about what we talked about”. His response was “I’ve already been thinking about a lot as a result of our talk.” Pray that the Spirit will draw him. Could it be that I’m going through this just so he could hear the Gospel? I don’t know.

Here’s where we are at after 3 CT scans, 1 PET Scan, three blood draws, 3 or 4 injections and an ambulance ride I still need an MRI to determine the extend and perhaps the cause of this brain bleed. I’m told that I am very unusual because while the Brain Bleed is real, I’m not exhibiting any symptoms that accompany it. Several have remarked that they have never seen that before! I have always liked being unique!

While we do not know yet, it’s possible that this Brain Bleed could be related to the melanoma having reached the brain. Or it could be due to blood pressure or other causes. It is in the right ventricle of the brain. We are looking at the likelihood of surgery for the tumor under my arm as well as chemotherapy and radiation as we move ahead. All of that will become clearer after Friday (which is when I initially wanted to give this report.

Please pray for me and for the Dr.s and staff that I will have peace, present a testimony useful to the Lord and, I would be so bold as to ask for healing … but whatever the Lord’s will may be … pray for His glory.

Your words of encouragement are certainly welcome. Please support Linda and my family as well. No medical advice please. I know it is well meant but it’s not usually helpful or encouraging. I have a fine medical staff and with your prayers supporting them I’m confident in trusting their judgement.

I’ll keep y’all posted … we love you all and thanks for coming with us on this journey!