It has been several months since I have posted on my blog and updated on my mom. I apologize to those of you who have used this as a way to follow her journey. Unfortunately, in the past several months my heart for writing just hasn’t been there. Life has hit HARD and has shaken me to my core in a way I didn’t even know possible. The saying “when it rains, it pours” has never been so true in my mind as it is right now. I will write more on all of that later, but for now an update on my mom.
I’m pretty sure when we left off mom had just finished her third round of chemo. It was with this session she started on a medication called Neulasta to help with her neutropenia. She responded great to the medication and has not had any further issues with this. Otherwise this session was pretty uneventful.
After her fourth treatment she became sick with what we thought was just a viral upper respiratory infection. This soon settled in her chest and mom was running fever. She was taken to the Emergency room and was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was treated with multiple IV antibiotics as well as oral antibiotics to take at home. Within a few days, she was feeling much better and had a follow up with her PCP about four days after diagnoses. The follow-up x-ray didn’t look too great, and her physician was worried about this representing cancer metastasis. She scheduled her for a chest CT. We were all pretty anxious and restless until we received the results of this imaging. Thankfully the CT was only consistent with infection and her oncologist reassured us it would be rare for this type of cancer to metastasize to the lungs. This was such a relief. Mom still felt pretty weak around the time of her 5th treatment so they ended up delaying it by a week.
The evening of her fifth treatment mom fell (again) and busted open her forehead right at her left eyebrow. It was around 9:00pm so all urgent care clinics were closed and she had to make yet another trip to the emergency room. She was there for several hours as it was a busy night, but they glued the laceration and it has been healing well. She was discouraged by falling and feeling so weak. Chemotherapy really does wreak havoc on your body.
Over the last several treatments her tumor marker has been slowing down and has not dropped to the desired level so when we got to her sixth, and what should have been her last, treatment we were well aware she might be looking at more treatments in her future. Because of this possibility, she decided against ringing the bell. She wants to know she is truly DONE when she rings that bell.
After the sixth treatment she had her tumor markers drawn again as well as chest, abdominal, and pelvic CT scans. On Halloween we met with her oncologist who reviewed these results and performed a pelvic exam. The CT scans were clear except for the pneumonia still showing on chest CT. Her tumor markers, however, were still not at the desired level. Her physician felt confident it was elevated in relation to the pneumonia, but because he could not know for sure until the pneumonia is completely clear from scans (which can take months), he opted for her to have three more treatments. Although this wasn’t what mom was wanting to hear, she had prepared for it and handled it all so well as she has with everything throughout this journey.
She had one treatment that day and today she is having her eighth chemo treatment. The main change over the last few treatments is that she is now experiencing significant neuropathy of her feet. Today they prescribed her gabapentin to help with this side effect so we will see if this will get her through her ninth, and hopefully last, treatment here in a few weeks. Mom is disappointed that she will not feel very well through the holidays but is thankful for these treatments and knows she has to do what she has to do to take care of this ugly disease. We are all hopeful that she will be feeling much better and have renewed health as we go into the new year. Dad also just had a knee replacement surgery on Monday, so we would appreciate prayers for both of them and their recovery and health.
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always” 1 Chronicles 16:11
“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, fo you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you” Psalm 9:9-10
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8