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The original ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ cast member has a blood clot and an infection, delaying the insertion of a much-needed feeding tube
NEED TO KNOW
- Jeana Keough has tongue cancer and is navigating severe malnutrition due to difficulty swallowing
- A blood clot and infection delayed her feeding tube surgery and paused her chemotherapy and radiation treatments
- Her family shared her diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma and asked for prayers amid her journey
Jeana Keough is facing a health setback amid her journey with tongue cancer.
The Real Housewives of Orange County alum, 70, was scheduled for a feeding tube “so she can get some nutrition,” her daughter Kara shared in an Instagram post on July 21. However, Jeana “hasn’t been able to eat a meal for 2 weeks, so she’s extremely depleted,” Kara continued.
As she previously explained in a GoFundMe created to help cover her mother’s medical expenses, Jeana was “becoming malnourished because the pain in her tongue and throat makes swallowing even the smallest bites or sips incredibly difficult.”
But when it came time to insert a feeding tube, “we uncovered a DVT clot in her leg, and now an infection, too,” Kara shared in the update. DVT, or deep vein thrombosis, is a blood clot that can pose serious health risks and can often be caused by medications like chemotherapy, per Cleveland Clinic.
As a result of the complication, Kara wrote that chemotherapy and radiation are temporarily paused as the family figures out next steps: “the feeding tube can’t be put directly into her stomach until there’s clarity on the infection.”
Meanwhile, Kara shared that her mother, an original cast member on RHOC, isn’t giving up. “You better believe Jeana is insisting she only had a ‘fake fever’ and that she’s fine to continue with the surgery,” Kara said. “Prayer needs: that this infection clears quickly, that she can get the G-tube surgery imminently so that hangry Jeana doesn’t murder someone, and that we can quickly resume treatment so that this torment can be put in the rear view mirror.”
The update comes just two days after the family shared that the reality alum had been diagnosed with cancer. As they explained in the GoFundMe, she’d been “diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue after she noticed a painful spot on her tongue and decided to get a biopsy.”
“After surgery to remove the cancer, we were hopeful that the hardest part was behind her,” Kara continued. “But when doctors recommended a second surgery to remove lymph nodes, they discovered the cancer had spread.”
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“Everyone who knows her knows this: she’s almost impossibly optimistic in the face of terrifying things — wildfires, cancer, uncertainty,” Kara and her brother Shane wrote in a previous Instagram caption, alongside a photo of their mom sitting on the couch. “Yet somehow she’s always been afraid of the simplest thing: being vulnerable enough to ask for help.”
Read the original article on People
