AWESOME NORMALCY

We are absolutely eating up this time with mom. Her recovery continues to go well and life seems pretty normal again. She can eat most foods without harsh side-effects, and her energy level is high. She has been able to drive and get out of the house. As long as she doesn't eat beforehand, she can go to church for one hour too, which is always uplifting. Life is good and we'll savour this time with mom before chemo goes into full swing again.

MOM'S NEW REGIMEN

It's a doozy! We found out that the weeks when she had erbatux didn't count toward the magical number of 12 rounds. That means that she has really only had 4 rounds of chemo. She has 8 left (with erbatux each week in between). That totals 15 more weeks of chemotherapy treatments. Phew. She will start on August 5th or 6th and she won't finish until November 15th. We're all in shock right now, trying to process it, but we do know that we just have to take one day at a time. Mom will do what she can, and if she has to take a break and get strength back, so be it. We'll just hang in there.

MOM'S NEW DO

After all of these years of trying to convince mom that she would look gorgeous with short hair, she finally took the plunge! Her hair has been falling out in clumps ever since she started chemo, but she has been hesitant to cut it. After looking at some cute magazine pictures of short haircuts, she decided that it would be psychologically therapeutic to have short hair. We went down to Robert's salon this morning, and he did his thing. He has been mom's stylist for years and years, and he was so good to her. He reminded her that it didn't matter what she did with her hair, she'll always be beautiful. I agree...but I also think her hair looks awesome!Robert also told her that if she was ever feeling too weak to come down to the salon, he would come to her house and cut it. He's a good man!

PHYSICALLY STRONG, MENTALLY SAGGING

Mom is getting stronger and stronger physically. She has been keeping food down for the past few days, and it's awesome! We think that part of the culprit is the amount of dairy she consumes. It must come in small doses. I'm sure there are other factors, but that is definitely one of them. Mom has been strong enough to get out of the house with me a few times. We made it to Target, Smith's, and even Marshall's this afternoon and found some non-saggy bum pants. After losing close to 20 pounds, it was time to do away with the elephant bum pants!

Mom thinks that she's at a point where her courage is feeling a bit depleted. She has held up and been so strong since her diagnosis in February, and now that the big surgery is over, she has felt a big mental and emotional release. She had to go to the oncologist yesterday, and just walking in the door made her physically sick. It was just a simple, follow-up appointment, but it was enough to conjure up a lot of anxiety. I don't think it helped that her oncologist at MD Anderson is thinking that mom might need 8 more treatments, instead of 5. That would put mom at finishing treatments in November! We'll see what they decide over the next little while, but for now, she's supposed to start up chemo again August 6th.

STILL HANGING IN THERE

The long break in posts is a good sign. It only means that mom is just hanging in there, making her recovery back to health and strength. As time goes on, she feels less tired and less pain. She has to stay close to home, though. Her digestive system is always on the fritz, but we're hoping that as her body heals and adjusts to life with fewer painkillers, things will normalize. She still does her nightly stroll around the block to get healthy and feel alive. Life is slow and mellow as we let mom's body do its healing thing.

EVERY DAY IS DIFFERENT

Yesterday was a great day. Mom got plenty of rest and felt energized when she was awake. It almost felt like a normal day. Today has been more challenging. She's feeling weak and tired today and food has decided to give her a few challenges again. We've been trying to keep it simple and healthy, but for some reason, her body likes to surprise her. We'll just continue to experiment with good, wholesome food (I guess we won't go to Pop Pop's for Italian Ice again) and pray that it sticks. Mom has a really good internal radar as to what will probably sit with her. She only has to take one bite and she usually knows. The last two days, we've been more mystified as to the source of it not being settled. Luckily, she's still eating enough that we're not too worried, but it sure would be great if all food would just agree with her. She is getting around well, though. She was able to walk a lap around the neighborhood with dad last night (1/2 mile). I think that's pretty impressive!

I wanted to include this picture of Dr. Abdalla, her liver surgeon. When she told him that she needed a picture with the doctor who saved her life, he replied, "I didn't save your life! God did. I just took out a tumor!"

I DON'T WANT REPLACE THE LAST POST

The news that we received from the doctor on Friday was sooooo good that I just don't want to replace it, but time does go on and mom does have updates.

She is home in the good ol' Duke City now and so thrilled to be in her comfy house. We're grateful for Aunt Donna and Aunt Jane's injection of emotional encouragement while they were there. She raved and raved about Emily's butternut squash tostadas and Mott's apple juice bars. Mom and dad were well cared for the last couple of days, and we're grateful that Dane and Emily live down there. I'm still in shock that they moved there last summer. It all seems so divinely orchestrated.

Anyway, mom looks great and seems to be doing well. She still seems pretty weak, but we don't really expect her to be doing jumping jacks anytime soon. She'll be getting lots of rest for the next little while. She's supposed to eat 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day, keeping a continuous intake of healthy calories. So that's our new goal: naps and nutrition.

GOOD NEWS

Mom and dad visited Dr. Abdallah's office this morning and got a great report. The doctor told them that the liver tumor was 90% dead after the chemo had done its work, and he only had to take about 4-5% of her liver. I asked my mom about 3 times to make sure that I was hearing her correctly, and she's pretty sure that's what the doctor told them. Absolutely crazy! He took some perimeter tissue where the tumor was, and the pathology report on that was 100% clean. He said that mom has responded to everything about as ideally as possible, and he feels like she has a really good prognosis. I think it goes without saying that she's in a really good mood today! :)

Mom and dad are flying home on Monday. She is on a plan to gradually wean from the pain medication, and she'll be able to drive once she's off it. Hopefully that will be within a week or so. She will start her chemo in about a month. Because it is recommended to do 12 rounds of chemo, and she has already completed 7, she will have 5 more rounds of chemo once she begins again.

Wow, we're so grateful for the great care, love, and support that has carried her through this crazy ordeal. While we're at, we're also grateful that dad's cousin, Coach Dave Rose, also received a great report from his pancreatic cancer. There is a lot to be thankful for, indeed.

NOT MUCH TO REPORT

Mom is doing fine. She was really tired today and just needed to get a lot of rest. Dane and Emily have spent most of the day with her, and dad gets there late tonight. We'll see what the doctor says about her progress tomorrow.

SHE'S OUT

Mom took a shower, got dressed, put on some makeup, took a chest x-ray, and convinced the doctors that she was good enough to leave the hospital today. She is staying at the Rotary House (a hospitalish hotel connected to MD Anderson) until tomorrow. She'll then be with Emily and Dane at their house for the remainder of her stay in Houston. Dad gets back in Houston Thursday night. He'll be able to go to her follow-up appointment with Dr. Abdallah, the surgeon. She was ECSTATIC to be out of the hospital and reassured me that she really is good enough to be out (dad reassures me that the doctors have the final say, and they wouldn't let her out if the indicators/tests didn't show that). She is still eating and keeping things down and breathing on her own. Everything seems to be good.

I had to share this quote from a famous doctor who discovered her cancer while isolated in Antarctica. She ended up treating herself for a long time:

"I would rather not have it. But the cancer is part of me. It's given my life color and texture. Everyone has to get something. Some people are ugly, some people are stupid. I get cancer..."

Mom has definitely experienced color and texture!