It has been four months since I last updated on mom, and unfortunately she is still actively fighting this beast of cancer. While mom had a break from chemo, she slowly started to regain strength and noticed small improvements in her neuropathy. Her hair has begun to grow back, and let me tell you this beautiful woman can pull off the short hair look. It was nice to have a few months of not really having to think about this disease and mom having a break from full days of chemo, multiple doctors visits, numerous sticks and lab draws, and the anxiety that accompanied each month as we anticipated hearing her updated CA-125 level.
January 2nd, mom had a follow-up telephone visit with her oncologist, and unfortunately we discovered that after a three month break from chemo, her CA-125 had quadrupled and was now sitting at 485. Normal is less than 35. Around this time she was also experiencing mild abdominal pain and constipation. She was scheduled for a PET scan and we waited two weeks to know what we were dealing with.
The day we were scheduled to receive the PET scan results (again over the phone- ya know covid quarantine time), my mom, dad, sister, and I met at my parents’ house and sat around their dining room table waiting for the phone call. We were all incredibly anxious and spent the waiting time praying and sharing funny videos to keep things light. When the doctor finally called we learned that she had ascites of the abdomen (fluid accumulation) and a couple enlarged lymph nodes. Nothing actually lit up on the scan and thankfully she did not have any visible tumors on organs, but the physician still felt this was consistent with cancer being present. He made the plan to start a new chemo regimen with the goal of getting her into remission. Unfortunately, he did inform us that a cure would be unlikely now and that we needed to begin to view this as more of a chronic illness.
Because of the affect on mom’s veins due to so many previous blood draws and chemo treatments, she decided to have a port placed this time to try to save her veins. She tolerated that procedure well and is healing nicely.
She has now had two rounds of this chemo and so far seems to be tolerating this treatment slightly better than the last. This chemo should not cause her to lose her hair or cause the neuropathy of the previous treatment. She still experiences the fatigue and weakness and they have to closely monitor her kidney function and blood pressure. Starting this round of treatments in the midst of Covid social distancing has been interesting. Unfortunately, none of us can be there with mom for her treatment which we hate but understand. We hope some of these restrictions will be lifted soon so that we might accompany her.
This woman is still the most positive person I know. She has been a little more emotional this time as we were hoping not to have to start chemo again so soon, but her faith is strong and she continues to try to maintain as much normalcy as possible.
Spending Mother’s day with her this year was such a blessing. A year ago from this Mother’s day (May 10th) was the date we were informed her CT scan most likely indicated ovarian cancer. I remember that day like it was yesterday and all of the emotions that went along with it. May 10th this year had a much more happy feel. We celebrated my mom and the amazing woman that she is. I couldn’t be more proud of her and honored to call her my mom. Although we are still in this fight, we trust in our God and we will continue to pray for healing and that God is glorified through all of this.
-“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12
-“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” Isaiah 40:29
-“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken” Psalm 16:8