Our visit

So we were able to get down and visit with my mom a week ago. The kids and my mom had a ball trying on her wig and taking pictures. We had a nice time, but she was a little stressed out because she is re-doing the living room and we had to move some furniture and take some with us. I think it is good for her to have this project to keep her mind busy.  She got her blood transfusion and her hemoglobin # went up a little. She has now finished her 3rd round of chemo. They had to give her benadryl again this week with the chemo because of hives.  She has been feeling sick with nausea, and stomach upset the past few days. At her Cancer doctors appt. today they gave her a new medicine for the nausea and diarrhea which hopefully will help. He also wants her to come in tomorrow for some IV fluids. Hopefully that will help her to feel better as well. Other than that, her spirits are still good. She has been amazing through this whole experience so far.

Update

Today my mom had to go and have a blood transfusion done. Her hemoglobin numbers have been getting increasingly low so they needed to get the numbers back up. All of her other numbers; kidney function, whiteblood cell are all good. She will start the next round of chemo next Wed, Thurs, Friday. She has been feeling really good, driving herself around a lot. She has started a new project in the house to re-do the living room. She wants to put in new flooring and paint the walls as well as get a new sofa. I think it is good that she has something to keep her busy. She has been cooking and doing lite cleaning as well. The chemo didn't seem to affect her much this time around, thank God. They are going to proceed with the same type of chemo, but give her Benadryl prior to her treatment this time. We are going down tomorrow for a visit. I will keep you all posted

Chemo Day 3

Today my mom had another allergic reaction while doing her chemo treatment (which she was able to drive herself to :)  So now they are not sure what she is having the reaction to. They gave her Benadryl again and we will have to wait until she sees the doctor next week to see how they will proceed. She has also been able to take off her oxygen for extended periods of time because her oxygen levels have almost gone back to normal. So far she has not gotten sick from this chemo. Smells aren't bothering her and her energy level has not been zapped. Keeping our fingers crossed that she will continue to feel well!

Chemo Begins Again

Wednesday my mom began a chemo regimen again. She went in at 11:00 and didn't end up getting to leave until 6:30. The doctor had requested that she get blood work done when she went in and her kidney numbers came back at 1.3 (which is awesome!) but, her magnesium was low (due to the previous chemo) so they gave her a bag of IV magnesium and then a bag of anti-nausea meds and then a bag of the first (new) chemo and then they were 15 mins into the second chemo(she had gotten this one with the previous chemo combo) and she began getting hives on her face and under her chin. They immediately called the Dr. and he ordered her a bag of Benadryl and they had to wait for all of the hives to go away before they could proceed with the rest of her treatment. They faded and she finished up and got to go home. They narrowed the reaction down to the new chemo because she had already had all of the other things before. She went again today and did fine because the new chemo is only given on the first day of the three day regimen. She had a wonderful visit with Aunt Susan, Aunt Carol and Jen was up from NC. She called me when she got home and was in such good spirits, laughing and talking about what a great day she had. I am amazed at how happy she has been the past few weeks. Here she is, riddled with Cancer, lost all her hair, enduring chemo and she is the happiest I have heard her in years lately. I love that I can call her ANY time of the day and she is my mom. I can not express enough how thankful I am to all of you for coming back into her life and making her smile, letting her know that there are people that love her and care about her. She will call me to tell me that Aunt Susan gave her homemade soup and Banana bread or that Aunt Carol took her to get her hair cut or that Aunt Beth came and helped her dust the dinning room table. She proudly displayed the centerpiece that Aunt Ellen brought her and said that the letter that Lori sent her brought tears to her eyes. She wore the necklace that Aunt Joan bought her and took it out Christmas day to show us all. She talks about Uncle Mike coming to visit her twice and how Maria helped her make Chocolate chip cookies. For years this has been missing from her life. So please know that everything you do, whether it be a visit, a letter, a gift or just picking up the phone to call, it means so very much to her and it is keeping her spirits high and giving her a life to live.