WAIT...

You REALLY think that Mom and Dad were in Houston just for cancer? Dad had other ideas...

RESULTS

All of the results from the testing are in and all of the interviews are over. Mom is in good hands and everything was very positive. Her thyroid is enlarged, but they're going to keep an eye on it. Knowing that thyroid issues are in the family genes, and finding that mom's TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) levels are off, they're going to put her on thyroid medication and see if it helps with some of her symptoms. They will continue to monitor the thyroid every 4 months. Her liver was totally clean, and everything else visible from the CT Scan came out clear! Yahoo! She is going to discontinue the chemotherapy drug that has been causing her blood platelet count to decline so dramatically, but she will continue on with her 4 remaining chemotherapy treatments over the next 8 weeks.

She is due back in Houston in January for follow-up appointments, and she will do so every 4 months for some time. They'll eventually move to 6 month intervals, and so on, for MANY YEARS (take that, Cancer!). I think that we'll just see this as a great excuse to visit the grandkids 3 times a year! :)

We're so excited that everything looks good. Mom will feel like a new woman in a few months!

HOUSTON UPDATE

Mom just got out of a full day of testing. She's glad it's over! She had to do another scan that involved drinking lots of barium. I will spare everyone the nasty details, but it was really gross, and she ended up having to drink an extra 10 oz. of the stuff. She said it's like drinking an atomic bomb.

She also had a biopsy on her thyroid. They noticed the swollen left nodule on her thyroid quite a while ago, but didn't want to focus on it until after all of this other liver stuff was taken care of. The biospy report so far is inconclusive. They'll meet with the endocrinologist tomorrow and find out if he has any more knowledge of whether it's cancerous or not, and if they'll need to do surgery or just watch it.

She's wiped out and can't lift a thing or bend over. The doctors want to make sure that her neck isn't strained at all after the biopsy. She'll be sleeping the rest of the evening, I'm sure.

JUST BECAUSE

I know that it's nice to SEE how people are doing. Although she was still feeling puny tonight, there is still a twinkle in her eye. We are really enjoying the crisp autumn air. Dad even got the fire going in the courtyard tonight. HEAVEN!

NEULASTA SHOT

Mom had her usual Neulasta shot this morning to help boost her white blood cell count. This time, though, she really felt the pain and was really sick afterward. After working through lots of pain, she fell asleep and napped all afternoon. We're now realizing (after all of these months) that the chemo definitely makes her sick, but the neulasta shot seems to do the real trick in causing the wrenching pain. She'll be much better after a day or two, I'm sure. Just in time to fly to Houston.

MOM'S LATEST CHEMO TREATMENT

Mom had another chemotherapy treatment today. Her blood platelet count was low enough that they normally don't continue treatment, but mom DOES NOT want to drag this out any longer! She wants to be DONE by the time Thanksgiving rolls around so that she can be with her family (yes, this does make me a little bit nervous). They ended up deciding to continue the treatment, but they decreased by 25% the particular brand of chemotherapy that causes low blood platelet counts. She's now getting half of the original dosage for that chemo and a full treatment with all of the others. She feels good and perky tonight, but she will probably be really sick in the next day or two. She'll probably stay sick into next week.

She and my dad are flying to Houston on Wednesday to meet with their oncologist, Dr. Kopetz. He'll do an analysis of her treatments as well as run lots of not-so-fun tests (mom will, once again, drink lots of nasty barium). A nice bonus is that Zia is celebrating her 2nd birthday while they're there!

She is now down to having only 4 more treatments (that's about 8 weeks if she doesn't have to take a break). Hang in there Mom...and don't you DARE pick up a knife, razor, letter opener, or get into a car accident! We can't have bleeding!

ANOTHER ONE OUT OF THE WAY!

This last week was definitely mom's bad chemo week, but she weathered it well. She was down and really sick from Friday - Tuesday, but she was up a running pretty well by Wednesday. She's a trooper and seems to get stronger and braver with every treatment. It baffles me. We had Brooklyn and Xochi in town for the weekend, which brought some fun, new life into the home. When mom was up and feeling okay, she got to be on the receiving end of Xochi's limitless supply of smiles. We're grateful to start a new week, chemo-free and hope that mom's platelet and other blood levels are high enough to continue to check off the number of treatments remaining.

DONE WITH #3! 5 MORE TO GO!

Mom's chemo treatment went well today. All of the levels measured through her blood draw were okay except her platelet count. Because her platelets were low, they chose to continue her treatment at a 25% reduction (except for the erbatux, which was a full dose). She's hooked up to the pump right now and everything else is the same, just less of it.

It was interesting to learn that there is a very definite culture in a cancer clinic. When I asked mom if she wore her new wig, she told me that it wouldn't be appropriate. When in a cancer setting, you are who you are. Mom and dad shared what a clinic is like, who you talk to and who you don't. It's almost as if words aren't necessary because everybody knows where you're at. There is always a good-bye and good luck as each patient leaves, though. All of the little mannerisms there are intriguing and I think a book needs to be written: The Culture of Cancer. Mom and dad both agreed that it is quite interesting.

Anyway, enough of that. Mom is doing great tonight and will hopefully cruise through this without too much weakening.

DAY EARLY

For some reason, mom's schedule has moved up a day. She is heading into the doctor's office tomorrow for blood work and chemo treatments. She knows she's "going down" for the rest of week (as she put it this afternoon). Hopefully her body's elasticity keeps up with these harsh treatments, and she'll be up and running again in a week. Her erbatux is really kicking in. The acne on her face and cracking skin and nails are pretty painful for her. She does make-up so well that we don't see it very often, but it looked painful today. She's feeling good and happy, though, so hopefully she can stay strong for the next week. Brooke is coming with Evangeline on Saturday and will spend some of mom's sickest days with her, which will be nice when mom's awake.

PATTERNS

We're definitely noticing patterns in mom's new course of treatment. She'll have about 5 really bad days after chemo, then she'll gradually perk up to feeling pretty darn good. She felt great over the weekend and managed to get out of the house for some errands and to attend church for 2 hours! We're excited to have another normal week before chemo starts again this Thursday.