POKES AND PRODS TODAY

Mom had a busy day today at MD Anderson. They poked and prodded and drew lots and lots of blood in preparation for Wednesday. Tomorrow she has a few more tests, followed by an appointment with Dr. Aballah, the surgeon. If all is well, she'll have surgery on Wednesay, as planned, but we still don't know a specific time.

Mom is in good spirits, but definitely feeling a normal amount of anxiety. She gets to meet many patients while waiting for procedures, and some are just slightly stubborn and bitter about their whole predicament. It isn't extremely healthy to hang with the other patients, but luckily, she has dad at her side.

Many people have asked for Dane and Emily's address in Houston. If you want it, just email me at kvigoren@gmail.com and I'll give it to you.

Thanks for all of the support. We have a big week ahead, for sure!

AWESOME

We just returned from a wonderful time together in Sedona. Mom was way more strong and healthy and happy than we ever imagined. She promised us that she really did feel as good as she was acting, so we're very excited! She seems to be about as strong and healthy as one can be for surgery. She leaves tomorrow morning for Houston. She'll be doing a lot of prep-work for the surgery to remove 80% of her liver on Monday and Tuesday. Surgery is on Wednesday. Keep her in your prayers as she tackles the next stage of her fight!

CLEAN!

Mom just came out of her colonoscopy with great news! NOT ONE POLYP! She was clean and clear and now she's ready to eat and sleep! We're so happy that there isn't another colony of cancer to worry about. Phew! Good day today!

CHURCH AND COLONOSCOPY

Mom is recovering well! She felt good enough this last week that she was able to attend sacrament meeting yesterday for the first time in months. I think she is confident that her white blood cell count is high enough to be exposed a little bit more to the public.

Coincidentally, she is due for her routine colonoscopy at this time. Tomorrow she goes in for the procedure, so the last 3 days have been spent in preparation. Today she has to do the pure liquid breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She has to drink all kinds of gross liquids today. I can't believe how much torture her body has been through lately!

We're grateful that she has been so strong and healthy. She can eat cold things now, and her skin is gradually recovering. Her energy level is much higher too. Her hair has thinned dramatically, but luckily, it was thick and beautiful to begin, so she had some to spare.

Mom Update

Mom and Evangeline taking a long nap together last week.

Almost a week out from her last chemo treatment, and she's hanging in there! She definitely has chemo in her system still. She's anxious to get her energy back, and we're hoping that she hits a turning point soon. We're still figuring out what foods are going to stick. Managing one or two tasks a day is about all that mom has on her plate right now.

I apologize for so many unreturned phonecalls. I have been spending most of my time and either mom and dad's or Isaac's school. Thanks for all of the continued support. Mom misses the company of others. I think she's anxious to get out of the house...and I think she has escaped a couple of times lately....:)

The End of Chapter 1

Yay! Mom had her last chemo treatment for a long, long time, and we're all so excited! She came home from getting erbatux this afternoon and was welcomed by Dane! Dane is driving through ABQ en route to the Grand Canyon to meet his school kids, so we get to have him for 12 hours.

Mom is feeling really good, and I imagine that most of it is psychological - just knowing that she's done for a good, long time is very exciting! When the doctors told her that erbatux would cause acne, we never expected it to be in her elbow pits!


We'll all be excited to see mom gradually gain strength and energy and get her skin back over the next month! Yeehaw!

Encouraging News

Mom went to the doctor today for her third neulasta shot (a shot that increases her white blood cell count). She also received numbers on her other blood tests. It looks like her chemotherapy is doing what it's supposed to. Numbers that we want to go up are going up, and numbers that we want to go down are going down. We're so happy that she isn't going through this for nothing!

She's still staying strong, but definitely lacks energy and an appetite. If we can just get through two more weeks, we'll be ready to feed her all kinds of good stuff to fatten her back up! I think she's ready to eat more than just jello and white stuff. :)

DOING WELL SO FAR

Mom had her chemo pump unhooked this morning and is handling this round of chemo pretty well so far. She was able to get a lot of rest the day and night that she got chemo, and she slept well last night, too. Getting rest makes such a difference! It was nice to spend Mother's Day with her and Brooklyn and the kids. Hopefully, we have got her diet figured out so that we don't have any more sleepless nights and bad reactions.

She is looking forward to one more chemo treatment on Friday, followed by 4 weeks of chemo-free recovery! Thanks so, so, so much for the continued support. All of the little surprises, notes, comments, letters, etc. have meant so much!

To clarify for Sue: After surgery (June 17th), she will get 4-6 weeks of recovery, followed by 8-12 weeks of chemo (just like she did from March - May).

Figuring Things Out

Mom is still a trooper! The side effects from chemo are definitely strong these days. We have spent the week trying to figure out what (if any) foods will sit with her. We have decided that we're down to brothy soups, saltines, chicken, potatoes, rice cakes, white bread, etc.. We are down to eliminating as much fiber as possible. We think that mom will be able to keep things down if we stick to the bland diet. This was very typical of her last bout with cancer, so we just have to remember what we did back then. On top of that, she can't eat anything cold. The other chemo treatments cause strange side effects, too. Mom is doing better today, though.

She has her last "bad" (4 kinds) round of chemo on Friday. Next week, she'll have her last erbatux chemo treatment, then she'll be done for a while! Yay! For those interested in what will happen after this:

May 8th: Quadruple chemo treatment
May 14th: just erbatux chemo treatment
One month of recovery (a week in Sedona with the whole family included)
June 17th: removal of 60-80% of liver in Houston (will require at least two weeks recovery in Hosuton).
6 or more weeks of recovery
After healed from surgery: Next round of chemo just like this last round. We think she'll finish up in early Fall.

Brooklyn is here in ABQ, staying with me at the Vigoren house. Brooklyn is visiting mom during the day, while I keep the other girls and cook at my house. It has been a nice change of scenery. Mom gets to hold baby Evangeline and visit and relax!

QUICK UPDATE

Mom is 2 days out from her erbatux treatment. She's doing well, but definitely much more sensitive to the chemotherapy. Food isn't sitting with her as well as it used to. She has a very sensitive digestive system now. She looks good and slept well last night, so we're still grateful that she is responding so well to all of the treatment. She's a trooper! Her acne is holding off much better than expected. Thanks to Chris and Ellie, Arbonne is the only lotion that doesn't sting!