First Entry, but not the start

Although this is my (Lynne Lesh) first entry into this blog journaling Gaye's story, it begins some time back....on May 19th, 2022, while she was at work helping with monthly reports for Peter and Dan -  she had worked with Paragon Mortgage for over 30 years. They both noticed that something was not quite right with Gaye.  Peter said, "I am not going to stop bugging you because something is not right with you".   At this time, Gaye agreed that she was not feeling quite right - Peter and Dan noticed confusion and struggles with communication skills (mostly yes - no responses to all their conversations).  True to his word, both he and Dan tried to contact family that evening.... Dan to Lynne - who was already on a plane heading to a British Isles Cruise for 11 days and then Peter to Gaye's younger brother Jimmy via Peter's father, Paul.  Jimmy and Paul have become biking buddies and what a blessing that was for us that this communication line worked.  Paul relayed that Peter and Dan were quite concerned with Gaye and asked Jimmy to call her and see if he agreed that something was not right.

Jimmy (who had covid at the time, along with his wife, Cathy) noticed right away that something was wrong and asked Gaye to go get some help.  He called her back 3 times before convincing her to take herself to the Goleta ER.  Luckily the ER was only a few blocks away and when she got there they took her in and did multiple tests to discover that she had a large mass in her brain.  They transferred her to Cottage Hospital and scheduled her for surgery the following Tuesday.  Andy (0lder brother) and Cindy (from Tahoe City), Shawn, younger son, (from Colorado) and Gina, daughter-in-law (from Napa) all came down to be with Gaye during this time.  

The neurosurgeon removed a large tumor from her brain and saw several other smaller masses as well (either visually or on the brain scan).  She has been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme.  When she came out of surgery all her bad symptoms disappeared and her cognitive skills were back to normal.  She checked out of the hospital, having felt no pain from the surgery and no adverse affects from the surgery as well.  She has not had headaches at any time,  just the confusion and memory issues.  She says that she feels normal now and like her old self.  Jimmy, who visited her from afar after the surgery, agreed that she seemed like her old self.  What a great outcome from the surgery...even surprised the neurosurgeon!  Gina stayed on with Gaye when she came home from the hospital.

Flash forward to today:  Lynne, Gaye's younger sister,  is staying with Gaye and taking her to her radiation/chemo treatments which are on a daily basis at Ridley Tree Cancer Center in Santa Barbara.  She is scheduled to have 15 days (3 weeks with weekends off from treatment and chemo) of radiation supplemented by a low dose of chemo.  She is on day 13 of those treatments and has done well physically, mentally and emotionally.  She has a great attitude.  She is the Gaye that we all know and love.  At this point it is hard to believe that she has cancer invading her brain.

I will continue to supply updates on this site so that if you want to follow you may log into this site.  The support and well wishes from family and friends is invaluable.  Thank you to all who are concerned.

Waiting Room

Lynne