Dear family and friends,

There really is no easy way to write this…

The good news- Rebecca Erin Lamb is going to be fine, eventually.
The bad news, she has been diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer called lymphoma. At this point, we are waiting for pathology to tell us the specific kind of lymphoma so they can design the best possible treatment. Although we are exploring other options, in all likelihood the treatment will involve several months of radiation and chemotherapy. It is unlikely we will have any more specific information before this weekend Feb 8/9)

The history AKA….How we discovered it
In November, Rebecca/Erin (R/E) had a cough. We went to the doctor who said, “Everyone has it, it is probably just a virus. Come back if it doesn’t go away.” When it didn’t go away and so we went back in December. At that time, it looked like R/E had a sinus infection so the doctor gave her 10 days of antibiotics. The cough was still present at the end of the series so we went back again …this was Jan. 25. This time I asked the doc to do a chest x-ray. She said, “typically we don’t see much in a chest x-ray but I’ll be glad to do it.” An hour later, when we met again with the x-ray, she said. “Good Call on the x-ray…we wouldn’t have expected to see this.” There was a spot on the x-ray near where some lymph node is located. We left with more high powered antibiotics, steroids, a date on Friday for lots of blood work and an appointment for a CT scan the following Monday. Friday’s blood work came back clean, Monday’s CT scan showed and enlarged thymus which turns out to be Dr. speak for a tumor in/around the thymus.

From hell no to we can do this…
We immediately googled thymus (God love the internet) and realized that at her age R/E can live without it and began to breathe again. Weds. I called the pediatrician at 8:30 to make sure she had the CT results, which she did. She told me the next step would be a biopsy which she would set up and get back to me at 2pm. At 9:30am she called and said please bring her to Fairfax Hospital, they had a bed waiting. I told her we’d be there at 2:30….we were going to finish the school day because leaving immediately added a scary sense of urgency I felt the need to avoid. Wednesday and Thursday they ran non stop tests (more CT scans, bone scans, radioactive and nuclear scans, EKGs …more than I can remember). She had a parade of doctors ask the same 40 questions and examine her each day. Becca was fantastic…and all blood work, exams and scans came back “gorgeous”….with the exception that all identified the one mass in her chest…which Jenna immediately named Ebenezer.

What they have done so far…
Friday, Feb 1 they did a biopsy and determined that the mass is, as suspected, a lymphoma…a very curable kind of cancer. The surgery took a few hours- biopsy, bone marrow biopsy, chest tube for drainage and a port in which they can eventually administer the chemotherapy.

Rebecca Erin is coping…
Unbelievably…with grace and graciousness, with humor and determination. Rebecca Erin definitely not looking forward to losing her awesome hair, but she is a fighter and will get through it with style! Sara came home from college and she and Jenna have offered the kind of love, lightheartedness and support that only a sister can provide.

The next step…
We are awaiting the pathology to confirm exactly which strain of lymphoma R/E has which will determine the protocol for the chemo. We are getting alternate opinions but will begin some kind of treatment by the week’s end. And we’ll keep you posted.

What you can do for us….
Send as many positive thoughts and prayers our way as you can.

Please don’t tell us any stories about people with cancer. Our own families have given us rich, scary and heartwarming experiences from which to draw comfort. We love you and care very much about each of you and the people who are important to you, but hope you can understand that the last week has given us too much to think about as it is, so maybe some day but no stories now.

This is an odd way to be communicating about such emotional issue, but we couldn’t actually imagine trying to repeat this story to each of our family’s wonderful friends after talking to so many of our fantastic family members. We hope you will understand why we resorted to email.

The hospital suggested we use an online web service to post Rebecca/Erin’s progress as the easiest way of keeping people informed. Our friend Mimi said she wished she has discovered it when her mom was so ill and so we are anxious to try it. My understanding is that anyone who wants to, can send little messages back to us, which in the days ahead, which might be something fun we can look forward to. We hope to have something posted there by Feb. 7. If you are interested in updates go to www.caringbridge.org …the Journal will be labeled rebeccaerinlamb(no spaces, no caps)

Thanks for your friendship and support.

Love,
Sandy and Jay Lamb