Author Topic: Sad news  (Read 4072 times)

Cheryl R

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Sad news
« on: May 17, 2007, 06:49:24 am »
 I belong to another AN site and we have been following a couple articles a lady from Jackson ,Mi wrote for the newspaper there where she was a reporter.      She had AN surgery last week and was doing well but then had seizures and died from a heart attack.      She was 49.    I do not know if she had any predispostion to seizures.                 Very sad!                   
      www.tinyurl.com/3dtcfk                      Cheryl R
Right mid fossa 11-01-01
  left tumor found 5-03,so have NF2
  trans lab for right facial nerve tumor
  with nerve graft 3-23-06
   CSF leak revision surgery 4-07-06
   left mid fossa 4-17-08
   near deaf on left before surgery
   with hearing much improved .
    Univ of Iowa for all care

ppearl214

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2007, 07:03:10 am »
Cheryl,

I am stunned... absolutely stunned.  There was a follow up article showing a blood clot was the reason....

http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/

To Mary's family and friends and her colleagues at the Cit Patriot, my condolences to them all.

Phyl
"Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness", Capt Jack Sparrow - Davy Jones Locker, "Pirates of the Carribbean - At World's End"

Cheryl R

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2007, 07:22:09 am »
Thank you for finding this followup.          I will post it on the the other site.
   Just heart breaking!                        Cheryl R
Right mid fossa 11-01-01
  left tumor found 5-03,so have NF2
  trans lab for right facial nerve tumor
  with nerve graft 3-23-06
   CSF leak revision surgery 4-07-06
   left mid fossa 4-17-08
   near deaf on left before surgery
   with hearing much improved .
    Univ of Iowa for all care

Brendalu

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2007, 07:38:20 am »
Very sad.  My thoughts and prayers are with Mary's family and colleagues.
Brendalu
Brenda Oberholtzer
AN surgery 7/28/05
Peyman Pakzaban, NS
Chester Strunk, ENT

okiesandy

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2007, 08:59:37 am »
I had read this lady's articals on the other site. I feel she was not fully informed as to her options. I think every one who read her articals thought she was juming into this treatment. When a man named Bob posted on this site that his wife died from a post surgery stroke I was in the process of getting ready to go to HEI for surgery. I did an about face and took a more optimistic outlook at radiation. I am in contact with a gentleman who does not post on any site that lost his brother after surgery for AN. When he talked to the doctor, the doctor said the surgery was a success and since his brother died 10 days later they must consider the surgery as successful. HUH? This statement does not make since to us either.

I feel so sorry for this lady and her family. This is a sad. Kind of makes us take a look at just how serious this AN thing is. I seldom think of mine anymore and now this brings back all of the confusion and frustration and fear that I remember when I was making a decision to have treatment, wait or what to have.

Sandy
Cyberknife 1/2006
Clinton Medbery III & Mary K. Gumerlock
St Anthony's Hospital
Oklahoma City, OK
Name of Tumor: Ivan (may he rest in peace)

Sam Rush

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2007, 10:38:54 am »
Sad storey. But the blood clot formed in her leg and traveled to her lung(pulmonary embolus).  Therefore not related to the AN surgery. She would have been more at risk on a long car or airplane trip with her legs immobile.
1 cm AN translab, Dr. Brackmann, Dr. Schwartz, Dr Doherety HEI   11/04   Baha 7/05

Windsong

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2007, 04:53:10 pm »
Very sad, yes.

My mom died of a clot  to the lung.... so i know. Autopsy there too.

clots can travel small and then build in a new place, then head for lungs or wherever....

What role did the seizures play, anybody know?

W.

Jim Scott

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2007, 04:55:46 pm »
My condolences to Mary Barber's family and friends.

I'm certain this untimely death will be carefully investigated by the hospital and outside authorities.  Lawyers will be circling, I'm sure.  However, the fact remains that the blood clot in Ms. Barbers' leg doesn't appear to be directly related to the AN surgery.   No medical errors seem to be present, judging from the newspaper account, which is a bit sketchy, I admit, but all we have to go on. 

Frankly, knowing of this this incident beforehand wouldn't have changed my decision to have AN surgery as any surgery carries some degree of risk.  We all understand that reality.  A blood clot is always a possibility associated with (any) surgery and can show up anywhere at any time, as this one did.  They can also be fatal, as was the clot in Ms. Barber's case.  It's ironic - Ms. Barber reportedly had a successful AN operation - but on closer investigation, hardly a negative reflection of AN surgery.  Yet blood clot(s) are a risk we have to fully aware of, going in.  To be blunt: life is a risk and AN surgery is usually imperative, not optional.

Jim
« Last Edit: May 18, 2007, 12:18:33 pm by Jim Scott »
4.5 cm AN diagnosed 5/06.  Retrosigmoid surgery 6/06.  Follow-up FSR completed 10/06.  Tumor shrinkage & necrosis noted on last MRI.  Life is good. 

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.  The way we cope with it is what makes the difference.

Cheryl R

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2007, 05:34:35 pm »
The clot would not be a result of AN surgery but just of having surgery in general.     That was one of the risks of surgery mentioned pre op,at least to me anyway.     That is also why we had to wear those massaging boots or stockings during surgery and until we were up walking alot.        Blood clots happen alot more than one would think.        People with large bone fractures are also at increased risk and I have seen more than one of those and I work in small hospital.   A pulmonary embolism is frequently caught early and the pt able to get on Lovenox and Coumadin.
                       Cheryl R
Right mid fossa 11-01-01
  left tumor found 5-03,so have NF2
  trans lab for right facial nerve tumor
  with nerve graft 3-23-06
   CSF leak revision surgery 4-07-06
   left mid fossa 4-17-08
   near deaf on left before surgery
   with hearing much improved .
    Univ of Iowa for all care

Jeanlea

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Re: Sad news
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2007, 08:00:25 pm »
My deepest condolences to Mary's family.  I am familar with pulmonary embolisms.  I had that about 2 weeks after my AN surgery.  I think it started in my leg, but I'm not sure.  I had a feeling like a pulled muscle.  But both my OT and ENT didn't think it was a clot because my ankles weren't swollen.  Later that same week I had sharp pains in my sides.  I went to the emergency room.  When I told them that I had recently had brain surgery they sent me for a CT.  That's how they found the clots.  I was in the hospital for five days and on warfarin and frequent blood tests for 4 months.  While the blood clots may not have been related to the AN, it was related to my recent surgery.  Didn't really realize how very dangerous it was.

Jean
translab on 3.5+ cm tumor
September 6, 2005
Drs. Friedland and Meyer
Milwaukee, WI
left-side facial paralysis and numbness
TransEar for SSD