This is going to be a little different from my other posts since I just want to get the info out. No funny stuff, just the facts so that everyone is clear on what's going on. It's been brought to our attention that people heard that Woody has cancer. The truth is, we don't know yet but we hope not. Here is everything that has happened in the last month.
On July 28, Woody received a call from the City of San Antonio Wellness Center. Woody had his routine annual physical done the week before where they had also done blood work. The nurse asked him how he felt and he told her that he felt fine. She then told him that his platelet level was low, his white blood count was high, and that he needed to set up an appointment with a hematologist/oncologist.
On July 31, we went to Woody's first appointment. The doctor came in and told us that she wanted a retest of his lab work, and an ultrasound of his liver and his spleen to see if either were enlarged. We asked several questions but she was very vague. "It could be a number of things" seemed to be her favorite answer. She sent us on our way and said that we would see them in two weeks.
On August 15, we were back at the doctor. They had received the results of the blood work and ultrasound. His white blood count and platelet count remained the same, and his spleen was slightly enlarged. The doctor ordered for a bone marrow biopsy to be done the next week. He informed us that the lab takes 10-12 days to process the sample, so he would see us in two weeks.
Now, we had multiple issues with this doctor's office. Lucky for Woody, he married a mean, old, cackling hen. I had enough of getting the run around on the phone for two days, so I hopped my happy ham in the car and drove over to their office. I said that I would not be leaving until things were handled and it was handled in a matter of fifteen minutes. Call it "Mother's Intuition", "Mama Bear Syndrome", or "Best Wife Ever-itis", but I had a bad feeling about this doctor's office on our first visit. So I did some research and found a new physician.
On August 28, we went on our way to his new doctor, Dr. Guzley. He tells us that he has his bone marrow biopsy results (after only 4 business days...hmmmm) and that the reports are conflicting. The preliminary report says cancer, and the final report "is much less dramatic". (Yep, those are his words). He tells us he is going to run more labs, two of which have not been done before but they should of, and he is going to look at Woody's bone marrow for himself and see what's going on. We asked him a bunch of questions and he finally looked at us and said, "As your physician, I am not going to make a diagnosis based off of speculation. Let's look at the facts, see what your labs say, and I'll see how your bone marrow looks, and we'll go from there." Woody and I both felt at ease and like we were in the right hands.
The next day, August 29, I called Woody that evening to see how his day at work was going. He tells me that Dr. Guzley called him....personally. Woody says, "Well, Dr. Guzley said he wanted to call me before the weekend and give me a little bit of positive news. He said he looked at my bone marrow and everything appears to be okay. He wanted to talk to the doctor that wrote the prelim report so he can see exactly what the other doc saw, but that doctor was already gone for the day. He said that we're not out of the woods yet, but this is a little bit of good news." Part of me wants to jump for joy, but then the words "we're not out of the woods yet" keep lingering in the back of my mind. We go back to see Dr. Guzley on September 11 to see what he says.
I know that many of you are going to want to pick up the phone and call Woody or me to see how we are feeling, how we are doing, tell us we need to see a certain doctor, to share medical advice, or to ask if there is anything we need....and we appreciate it! But right now, we are trying to keep as normal of a home life as possible. Not for us, but for our precious girl, Peyton, that has no idea what we are dealing with. As you can imagine, it is really hard to keep the home life normal when we are constantly on the phone. Right now, we are okay. Woody still feels great physically, I'm good, Peyton's good....we're good. And we now have a great physician who we are confident in! I will do my best to keep everyone informed, so if you would like me to add you to the update list, email me at cgwoodcock@gmail.com. I hope that I've answered everyone's questions for now. Thank you again to all of our friends and family for their prayers and support. We will continue to trust in God's perfect plan, and pray for strength, healing, courage, and grace.
Much Love-
Chrystal
