Chemo Plan

Well, we've had a busy day so far.  First of all, mom was out and about for a LONG time today and was doing great all the way to the end.  She may crash fast and early tonight though!

We ran a couple of errands before her appointment.  The appointment was quite an ordeal, a lot of doctors, waiting, questions, answers and more waiting.  BUT, we both really LOVED that doctor.  He seems to be so genuine and knowledgeable. We were able to ask a ton of questions regarding the treatments and schedule.

First, they are going to put a port in her chest for the treatments.  That way she won't have to be poked each time she has chemo and it's safer than hoping that a vein doesn't have trouble during a four hour treatment.  They will be scheduling a consult for either later this week or early next week and likely be putting it in sometime next week, a 45 minute procedure.  She will need to wait a week for that to heal before it can be used.  Right before she has her first treatment, which will likely be the first or second week of August, they will do another CT scan to see if there are any other remaining tumors that the surgeon missed (hopefully not) and get a baseline.  They will also do a blood draw to check for the cancer markers to see how she is starting.

She will go to treatment every week for three weeks then have a week off.  For two of those three weeks she will likely feel fine as the meds aren't too hard to manage.  The third week will be the kicker and then she'll have some extra time to heal before she starts the next round.  She will lose her hair and I'm sure battle feeling sick.  The office seemed like a happy and inviting place, the kind of place that mom wants to be.  They see the infusion room as a family, and patients in there were already so friendly to her.

She is hoping to be able to work a little through the chemo time, once she's recovered a little from the surgery a little more.

I may need some help in the coming weeks and months with rides to and from the hospital, and people who are willing to be with her both while she is being treated and when she is home afterwards.  I'll try to set up a schedule when I have a bit more exact timing info.

Thanks again for all the prayers.  There are so many other hardships happening both in our local community and around the world for so many people.  Please continue to pray for all of those around you, it would mean a lot to mom and to the community.  Thank you all for the physical help too, it means a lot to us.

Till I have more info!