Patient: “They thought I had the flu”

Just a few months earlier she had given birth to her daughter. So when Caitlyn Goslee became ill, doctors initially thought she was run down and had a bad case of the flu. It turned out to be something much more.

By IU Health Senior Journalist T.J. Banes, tfender1@iuhealth.org

Her pregnancy was tough. She was nauseous quite a bit. But months after her daughter was born, Caitlyn Goslee was still experiencing nausea.

Married to Brian Goslee, the blended family includes three other children under the age of ten. Caitlyn Goslee, 27, was constantly on the go. But in July everything slowed down.

She was admitted to the hospital three times in July and August with a different diagnosis each time – septic, flu A, flu B and RSV. “I’d been on steroids and antibiotics and my counts were still low so a bone marrow biopsy was ordered,” said Goslee, a 2010 graduate of North Central High School. The test confirmed Goslee has Myelodysoplastic syndromes (MDS), a group of disorders that causes her bone marrow to not produce enough functioning blood cells.

With a confirmed diagnosis, Goslee switched her treatment to IU Health and is under the care of hematologists/oncologists Dr. Robert Nelson and Dr. Larry Cripe. Since August she has completed her first cycle of chemotherapy, recently started a second cycle and will begin preparing for a stem cell transplant.

During a recent hospital visit her mother Oona Elmore and grandma Marg Schroeder joined her.

“As a little girl she was always very healthy. She was very energetic – was into swimming and cheerleading,” said her mother. After high school she worked as a nanny – traveling with families and helping manage households of children. She was also an avid race fan and often joined her dad Rico Elmore at sprint car and IndyCar races and tractor pulls. She met her husband when she was organizing a fundraiser for Riley Hospital for Children. He works for IndyCar and owns a business that turns old race gears into clocks. He donated one of the artistic pieces for the auction.

Her illness caught her by surprise.

“It’s a busy life with four kids. Before all this my husband I would try to get away once or twice a month and we always did things with the kids – parks, museums, the zoo,” said Goslee. “When I got my diagnosis I didn’t know what to expect so I settled for another doctor at another hospital.”

When she began to learn more about MDS, Goslee joined a support group on social media and began talking to others with the same diagnosis.

“I was encouraged to get a second opinion and not settle for anything but the best treatment options,” said Goslee. “I also learned IU Health was where I needed to be and it has been the best.”