Hopefully Last Post

Sorry for not posting.... it has been an incredibly stressful and crazy couple of days.

Last night The doctor to took us to another local hospital in Cuzco where they performed a CAT scan. I hate being the bearer of bad news via this way but I'm sure you all understand why. The results of the scan indicate that Joey Lynn has a mass on her right kidney and unfortunately a smaller mass in her left kidney. The veins going into the mass ruptured on the Inca Trail draining into the sack that holds the kidney. As a result of the weight her kidney dropped and the liquid got severly infected. Her right kidney is double the size it should be. The good news is they feel this mass is extremely early in stage and the mass is intact and prognosis should be 100 percent once it is removed, but the mass needs to come out soon. They feel she is stable enough to travel home and would be better off having the surgery in Halifax surrounded by friends and family. The travel home will likely be gruelling for her but she wants to get home so bad. The odd thing is travelling here may have saved her life because if this hadn't happened the mass would have kept on progressing without us knowing it even existed. So as hard as it is to swollow this may have been a good thing... if only it happened when hiking Musquidoboit instead the Andeas Mountains.

Last night the doctor picked up the Urologist at his home to look at the CAT scans.When stopped at the hosptial he opened his door and a motor cycle ran right into it. There was alot of yelling and finger pointing then the motor cyclist picked up his bike and helmitless girlfriend and drove.... no exchange of info ... nothing. Crazy stuff.

This morning a Urologfist came in and confirmed the prognosis.

Once they cleared her for flying home the fun started.... ever try to change a plane ticket in a country where no one speaks english. We hada seat on an airline that left the jungle, stopped in Cuzco and went to Lima. Because I wanted to board the plane in Cusco instead of the jungle they couldn't figure out what the penalty and change fee would be. They kept saying it would take some time to figure out... shit to bad someone couldn't use a computer. We heaed to the airport hoping to get more help there... and same issue.... Finally I gave up and bought tickets from thier competitor for $400US to get us to Lima as I was walking away the orginal airline company siad, hey mister $50US and we can change your ticket. Yiou want to see someone spitting bullets... but it was too late. So here we are in Lima heading home tomorrow on our regular flight. We get home Monday afternoon and there will be an ambulance at the airport to take Joey Lynn to the hospital. Of course they may not either but I was assured there would be.

The next time something at work stresses me out I hope I can remeber the last two days to help keep things in perspective. I'm stressed and an emotinal wrek I can only imagine how she is... but you all know her she is a real trooper and stronger than anyone I know.

Needless to say Joey Lynn is scared, exhausted and still sick as hell and I pray that we all made the right decision to travel now intead of waiting. The two hour flight here wipped her out but she is relaxing in our hotel room while I write this and grab some grub.

As far as the wedding goes it has been my last priority and I have not been able to so much let it distract me from what needed to be done here. However, on the flight here we did discuss that it is highly unlikely it will happen as she is to weak, to fever blistered, and will probably be hospitalized. However we'll make a solid decision when we get home and see what doctors there recommend.

After all this the doctors here have warned us that the insurance company will likely claim that this is a pre-existing condition and will not likely be covered leaving us stuck to pay for all this. But wewill cross that bridge when the time comes, right now I just have to get her home.

Love you all

Frank