The short of it.

Last summer:  Our Mom/Grandma & Great Grandma while serving a full-time mission for the Church of Latter Day Saints began to show subtle signs of not being well. Us kids were concerned that while serving at Heber Valley Girls Camp and staining cabins she was getting very sick from the paint fumes. We also noticed apatite changes, weight changes, and she begain to have some mild infections.

When our parents came home from working at girls camp in October they were so excited to go to Mexico with Charleen and Bobby's family. While in Mexico, Char & Bobby were able to watch her eating habbits and became concerned. Also, our mom tried to ride a bike and because of her poor balance could not ride a bike and actually crashed the bike hitting her head on a tree- twice. When they got  home Charleen and I were talking about mom and her health. Worried, we told her to go back to the doctor.

November 13: I met my mom at IKEA and when we first met she seemed normal but as we were shopping she began to act differently. She was taking a long time to pick things out, walking funny and was very agreeable. I asked her if her feet, hips or back hurt trying to figure out why she was walking funny (like a limp). She said that she was feeling good and didn't realize that she was walking different. I pulled her aside in the store and very firmly told her that I was tired of her not feeling well and that she needed to tell her doctors and figure it out. She of course agreed in a very calm way (love you mom but red flag). After shopping, I kissed her good bye and she drove away. I called my dad and told him that something is wrong with mom. Because my Dad had been with my mom all day every day, it was difficult for him to notice the subtle changes during the past months. When my mom got home she had worsened and he noticed her one side shaking. He took her to the ER where they did an MRI (without contrast) and diagnosed it as a stroke.

After being released from the hospital she was improving, but lately she started to worsen. This up then down was a very gradually thing. But when my husband Chad and I went out on Valentine's Day with my parents, we realized just how much worse she had become. They left to go to St. George for 10 days and while they were gone we were getting phone calls and text that were not normal. Initially, I thought she was having another stroke and felt like she needed to go back to the doctors office.

Wednesday February 25th:  My parents had gotten home from their vacation so I started making phone calls to her doctors. Charleen and I went down and met our mom and dad and took my mom to have a MRI done (with contrast). This time we got a new diagnosis: tumor. The neurologist explained that she never had a stoke but was a tumor all along. The tumor size had grown very quickly and had all of the characteristic of glioblastoma and because of her age and the growth rate it would not be good. The secondary possibility listed on the MRI report was Central Nervous System Lymphoma. I never though I'd be cheering for Lymphoma but that is where we found ourselves.

Thursday February 26: We met with Dr. Randy Jensen at Huntsman Cancer Institute to go over the results of the MRI and to figure out our next steps. As he viewed her MRI he said it could be a couple of different types but did not lead us as to what types. We would have to wait to get the pathology back. Shout out to our Neurologist for getting us an appointment at Huntsman the very next day and also to Neuro Oncologist who saw her not on his normal schedule and did everything he could to get her into surgery two days later. We are all so grateful!

Friday February 27, 2015: We checked into the U of U hospital.

Saturday February 28:  At 10:30 am mom/grandma went into surgery. At 2:00 pm she came out and surgery had gone well and preliminary pathology report said that it is CNS Lymphoma. This is obviously not good news but it was the best case of the worst possibilities. She was able to sleep comfortably all that day and night.

Thank you for so many who love and care for our Mom. Thank you for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers.

-Missy Collard