The Beach

Mom is doing better.  She has had some bad days/nights and good days/nights.  She was feeling bad and a little better then bad again.  On Tuesday, she had a blood test done and they determined that she was dehydrated so she got two bags of fluids.  By the time she left, she was feeling much better.  We went back to her house and got her packed up for her trip, then spent the night at my house (after eating a piece of fried chicken and cole slaw!).  I dropped her off at the airport on Wednesday morning.

Luckily she was able to use the wheelchair service to help her through the airport.  I got this picture texted to me later that day...

She said that night was a pretty bad one, sick from either chemo, travel or food, but her stomach was pretty upset.  Mom also said that her hair is already starting to fall out. She spent the day watching the huge waves from a Mexican hurricane and resting.

Yesterday mom said she got sick in the afternoon again, but had a better night.  Hopefully the worst is over and she can relax the rest of the vacation.

Next chemo is planned for September 11th I believe.

The Weekend

Mom finished up her first chemo treatment around 2pm or so on Friday afternoon.  While in the treatment, she had a decent sized lunch and said that she felt just fine!  She met a few people around her and that was encouraging to her.  She went home and said she felt just fine.  The rest of us went camping but I checked in on mom several times a day over the weekend and I just kept getting texts back that went like this "feeling fine!", "stay as long as you want, I'm good!", and "I went out to dinner with a friend, feel great".  So when I was leaving Sunday afternoon, I checked in to say we were on our way home and did she want to go out to dinner.  She responded "sick hit".  So we rushed home and she was pretty out of it, tired, nauseated and feeling pretty bad.  I got her a little bit of soup and a nausea med.  She ended up throwing up the soup but she said that it actually made her feel better.  I got her ready for bed and out she went.  

She is still feeling a bit yucky today, hopefully it starts getting better soon.  But crazy how for 48 hours she felt just fine, like pretty much normal, then boom.  So we'll see how long it lasts.  Chemo is a crazy ride!

Keep praying for mom as she tries to get as good as she can before she heads to California on Wednesday morning. 

Finally In

It's been a long road to get to this, but she is finally on her first treatment of chemo as we speak!  Obviously this is a little bit of a good thing and a little bit of a bad thing, but hopefully this is the beginning of the road to complete recovery.

Pray for mom today and for the next several days as she deals with the side effects of a brutal four hour chemo infusion.

This is starting to get frustrating

So mom arrived at the hospital ready to roll, with a chemo appointment and they informed her that she needs to take a med 24 hours before she actually starts.  So they gave her the med, did a few tests and some blood work and are sending her on her way (2 hours later!).

All that and she still hasn't started chemo!  Tomorrow is apparently the day but until it's flowing in her, I won't believe it!

Keep praying for her, it's starting to cut close to her trip...

Today

Good morning,

I hope lots of you are reading this morning!  Mom starts chemo today at 10am Mountain Time and will likely be done around 2pm.  If you think of her during this time, please say a prayer for her.  She has a lot of anxiety about this first treatment, how she will respond to it and the unknowns of her recovery from it.  Please pray that the chemicals kill only the bad stuff and that she feels great afterward!  Pray that her body responds to treatment in the best possible way.

If anyone in Utah area is available the following times to check on mom, please let me know!

Friday from 4-9pm
Saturday from noon on
Sunday morning to mid afternoon

Any part of these times would be much appreciated to help mom through possible sickness.  She may not need someone there at all times, but a call person would be great.

Thanks so much everyone for prayers and thoughts and help, we all really appreciate it!

The Go-ahead

I took mom and Peg down to Salt Lake today.  We all had a great lunch (thanks Peg!) then dropped her off at the airport.  We then headed to mom's surgeon for her 6 week post op.  Good and Bad news.

Bad - her wound is still not completely healed.  It's still been leaking, though not infection, it was kinda gross and making her bandage smell and be unpleasant for her.  This leakage is unfortunately the result of still some unhealed space in her abdomen.  Though remarkably healed from only 2 weeks ago, there is still open space that won't heal on it's own.  So he had to make a small slit in the incision again and pack it with gauze.  She luckily doesn't have to do the vac again, but will need to do packing dressing for quite some more time.  She will have to do this on her own until it's completely healed.  Please pray that happens quickly for her.

Good - she got the "go-ahead" to start chemo on Thursday.  So that'll start on up!  She isn't exactly happy to do it, but she is glad that she can just keep moving forward in treatment rather than waiting for the wound to completely heal.  And it's good that it's not infected again.  She will be on the road to the end of treatment, which she is glad for.

My bro comes into town tomorrow for a few days to see mom.  He'll be able to take her to her first chemo treatment which means a lot to her.  Continue to pray that she handles chemo well enough to head on out of town next Wednesday feeling ok.

Thanks everyone!

Update

Hey there everyone,

Sorry for the long delay in posts.  I went out of town on Wednesday evening and got home late Sunday evening.  A few things have changed that happened while I was away!

First, mom is doing great.  She is feeling good and hitting some awesome landmarks - driving on her own, no more pain meds, gaining some weight back, planned a tentative day back to work.  I'm so proud of her!

When mom went to the chemo appointment on Thursday, they determined that they didn't want to start quite yet, wanted the surgeons clear that she can start.  So she didn't get her treatment on Thursday!  Instead she's been resting, eating food and feeling better each day.  Mom has an appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday (tomorrow) in which we assume he will give the go ahead to start chemo on Thursday.  She will have her big infusion then, and have 5 days to recover before she gets on a plane for California the following Wednesday for a week.  I think that will be a good trip for her to rest, recover and recharge.

So I'll let you know what happens tomorrow after her appointment!

Cheers~

Catch Up

Sorry everyone for the delay in posts.  I've been busy at my first week of work and I happened to be at a trade show with little to no access to update you all.  And by the time I got home, I was beat!

Here is the update on mom.  She finally got her wound closed on Thursday afternoon.  There was a slow progression of closing the wound with the vac but all seems to be good now.  She still has some fluid leakage from it, but is feeling fine and doesn't have to tote around the pump anymore.  On Friday she walked about 2 miles which is awesome!  She slept the rest of the day she said.

Also on Thursday, mom went to see the chemo oncologist and he was going to start her first infusion that same day.  Due to the wound still be open that morning, he felt more comfortable waiting another week to let the wound heal more before they started.  So they will be starting chemo on this Thursday, August 14th.  They will be combining the months worth of infusions into one day so she will be having a four hour infusion, likely followed by days of sickness.  Please pray for her as she deals with that blow.  The port seems to be healing great, she has that checked tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Mom and Peg came over for dinner this evening and mom is looking really good.  Standing more up straight, able to bend over, more color in her skin, moving around well.  She even ate a ton of food which is awesome.  Her goal this week is to get protein and calories.

I have a major request.  I have had a trip planned for some time that I would love to still be able to go on.  Due to mom having her infusion only two days before Peg needs to leave, we would love some help taking care of mom for about 24 hours after Peg leaves until I get home.  We would need someone to come for part of or the whole time from Saturday evening through Sunday evening.  I also need someone to give my aunt a ride to the airport on Saturday afternoon.

Please let me know ASAP if you are able to do either of these things, it would mean the world to us!  Thank you!

Healing

Mom has been doing a great, fantastic, incredible job healing.  She took a few steps back with the last infection, then a stall when she got her port put in.  But she is back to moving around more, going out, running errands, eating more.  She has been at home for a few days and doing great there.

The home nurse came to change her vac and feels that it can be closed!  Instead of just doing a quick close, they are doing a two day close.  She didn't put anything in the wound, but put the vacuum on it anyway to help continue pulling it together before final closing on Wednesday.  It's a great solution that everyone felt good with.  So she'll have to carry around her "little friend" as she calls it (the machine for the vac) for two more days but it seems like without problem it will be closed again on Wednesday.  She doesn't even need to go back to the surgeon to close it, the nurse is going to do it!  But already since Friday, about 2 inches of the wound already closed itself at the top.  She's doing great!

So now she has two full days of rest before round one of chemo starts.  Keep praying for mom as this week progresses that she continues to heal and is ready for her chemo.

And thank you to Jenny for the meal for mom and Peg tonight!

Weekend Update

Fogg worked with Mom's good friend Anita to make these awesome bracelets for us.  Mom and I have been wearing the rubber teal bracelets, but these are a billion times better!  One side says "Have Faith" and the other side says "Expect Miracles".  This has become our mantra - have faith, expect miracles.  And I think about those two things a lot.  We have four more available if anyone is interested.  The cost is $25 so let me know if you want one and I'll get it going for you. The teal is for ovarian cancer awareness, on this bracelet, it's made of leather.

Mom's sister, Peg, came into town on Saturday morning.  We packed mom up from my house and they headed back to mom's house.  Mom is doing ok, battling a little bit of upset stomach, but getting a little better each day.  It will be nice to have Peg take care of mom and to drive her to appointments.

Mom has a big week this week.  Monday she gets her wound vac changed again.  Hopefully the nurse will give the go ahead to close it after seeing her improvement.  In which case, she'll head back down to Salt Lake on Tuesday (hopefully) to have it closed. On Thursday, she has an appointment with the chemo oncologist who will check the condition of her port and likely start her first infusion right after.  Please say a prayer for mom on Thursday as she launches into her first treatment.

Thank you again to everyone for the meals and taking care of things for us! I'll keep you updated tomorrow!

Port Done, At Home

The procedure went super quick and mom recovered so well and we headed home by 10:30.  She is feeling good so far, but said she is just starting to get a little uncomfortable in her neck.  The surgeon said it went very smoothly!

I also did a bit of scheduling (just call me the personal assistant) for next week.  I was able to speak with the oncology office and figure out her chemo schedule.  She will start chemo on August 7th.  The first two weeks will be fairly mild and take about an hour for her.  The third week, they will introduce another med that will be the one that will likely make her sick, that will take another hour or so.  Then she'll get two full weeks to recover from that before she starts the second round.  And that's how it will go.  As of right now, her first three treatments will be 7th, 14th and 21st, then two weeks off and will start again on September 4th.  And so on.  I will let everyone know if we need help as the time gets closer, but as of now, we've got the first round covered with my aunt being in town.

We are also hoping to have the wound vac out sometime next week as long as it's healing as it should.  I've made a few arrangements to have that done assuming things are going well.  Please pray that she heals quickly so that can be removed sooner rather than later.

Mom will continue to recover at home today and tomorrow then head back to her house with my aunt.  Please pray she continues on a good path!

Friday Port Cath

Good morning readers,

Mom had a good day yesterday which is super positive.  She has sort of had to start over a little with her eating and moving, but she's getting there.

Today mom is getting the port put in.  She is prepping as I type.  They will be putting a small disc under her skin near her collar bone that will take her chemo.  There will be a tube that will go under her collar bone into her veins which is how she will get the chemo.  This is a pretty minor surgery but a surgery still.  She should be in for only about 45 minutes and we should be out of the hospital by noon.  I'll let you know when we get home and how it went.

Prayers for mom this morning during surgery and while she recovers from this procedure.

While she is in for the procedure, I will be figuring out her chemo schedule.  I have gotten a few questions about helping out during chemo so I'll figure out what the plan is.  During the first cycle, her sister will be here with her and I think that will help her figure out if she wants people in to spend time with her during infusion or not and what needs she will have post infusions.  Thanks again to everyone that has reached out.

We have tons of food at our house and thank you to everyone for that!  And thank you to everyone that will be providing food next week for mom and her sister, so very helpful.

Stay tuned for later!