‘You just don’t know’

“Shock.”

Susan McLaughlin-Dick thought she had an ear infection.

She went to her doctor’s office and got medication that should have cleared up fluid in her ears. But when she went back two weeks later, the fluid was still there. And the dizziness she had initially experienced was getting worse.

By the time she returned again, on Jan. 25, 2016, she could barely walk.

“It took my son and my daughter’s boyfriend that morning — they pulled the car up to the steps — it took them to get me out of the house,” she said. “I was that weak.”

Upon arriving at the doctor’s office, she was immediately sent to Jay County Hospital. That led to blood work that showed dramatically low hemoglobin levels, which led to a CT scan.

And that’s when they found it — a gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Cancer.

So, yes, Susan was shocked.

The staff at the hospital fit that same word as well. Susan’s initial hemoglobin level — 2.1 — was well below the normal range of between 13 and 15.

“I was the talk of the hospital at that time,” said the 47-year-old Portland resident. “They did not know — doctors, nurses — did not know how I was still living. Because that low, your heart, everything, should have started to stop working.”

Susan was still alive and kicking. But the diagnosis was startling.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors range from stage I to stage IV. The larger the number, the more the cancer has spread.

Susan’s tumor was stage IV.

It had spread to both lungs as well as her liver, colon and left kidney.

Surgery was not an option. Instead, her cancer would have to be managed via medication.

It’s been a roller-coaster ride since then.

Her stomach doesn’t absorb vitamin B12 properly, so she gets monthly injections. She has neuropathy. And she’s developed diabetes.

A new mass, this time on Susan’s liver, was found early this summer.

And changes in medication — she knew her initial drug was expected to lose effectiveness after a few years — have caused health issues this summer, including severe pain, nausea and fatigue.

“A lot of ups and downs,” said Susan. “Your bad days, you feel like some days you should just give up.”

But then she thinks about her three children — Chris Hudson, Shelby Capetillo and Carla Dick — and six grandchildren.

“We’re going to keep fighting this,” she said.

Through her fight, Susan has been happy to have a doctor she trusts.

She began working with Dr. Sulfi Ibrahim in 2016 when he was still running the cancer center at Jay County Hospital. He left that position, but Susan didn’t leave him. She traveled to Indianapolis in order to continue to be his patient and now sees him at Reid Hospital in Richmond.

“He sits right there and he looks at you and he will make sure you understand,” Susan said. “You may have a 15-minute appointment, but if you need him for an hour, he’s in that room with you for an hour.”

Before spending so many hours in doctor’s offices — her regular check-ups are every six weeks, though they have been every two weeks this summer because of her complications — Susan ran a three-shift babysitting service out of her home on county road 200 West. But the 1989 Jay County High School graduate is unable to keep up that pace anymore, and now watches a few children for shorter periods of time. She’s sold the country house — for both financial and maintenance reasons — and moved to Katelyn Place in Portland.

While cancer has slowed her down, she still enjoys going shopping and visiting area festivals with her friends.

She said she makes sure to enjoy those outings and all of her time spent with her children and grandchildren.

“You just don’t know day to day what’s going to happen,” said McLaughlin. “If you can enjoy today, enjoy it. Do what you can do. Because you just don’t know tomorrow.”