Updates

So over the last two weeks Mom has had five days of Chemo staring on the 22nd of January. This time she did have lots of side effects such as itchiness, redness and swelling of the hands and feet, infections, nausea, vomiting, upset stomach and such. These symptoms have begun to subside, they have been giving her Atavan to keep her from thowing up. They have kept her on antibiotics and she keeps running a temperature. Dad and the docs have been having to force her to eat since she has no appetite. She has lost another 15 lbs through this process. She has lost some of her zip and personality but has still been plugging along. They have been monitoring her to check for blood clots and fluid buildup. She has had 5 units of blood and 3 platelet transfusions since her blood count is so low. She is in the Nadar phase where her body is at its lowest point and, without tempting fate, she can only go up from here. Her sister Karen has been tested to see if she is a potential marrow donor, so the docs are discussing a transplant for her. Lots of stuff going on and lots more to come. This has been a really rough round and she really needs everyones love and prayers and good thoughts.

Well this sucks!

So after only 4 short months...here we go again. I had hoped to never again have anything to post on this blog, but as you can see here we are again. Mom has been doing well over the last few months, feeling good and even traveling a bit to see family. Last month, in December when she had her monthly blood work done they found a little something strange, so they did a bone marrow test and sure enough they found some blast cells again....cancer...again. She got the news on Thursday and was headed back for the hospital on Friday. When they arrived for prep to start Chemo again the Drs. wanted to get her Central Line in and when they did the procedure they somehow knicked her artery and she started to bleed and they had to stop. This is something that sometimes happens when they pull out the guide wire. Lucily the body is able to heal itself fairly quickly. They decided that they would put in a pick line in her arm instead. All of this was quite an ordeal so they waited untill Saturday to start the Chemo. This time around, because somehow one of those little buggers survived in her marrow, they will have to use a different type of Chemo. I talked to Mom today and she says that she is a little sicker this time around and has had a couple of bouts of nausea and vomiting. Nothing that she can't handle though. Today, Monday, was day three of treatment and she feels much better today. They are giving her atavan (sp?) to help with the nausea. A good friend of the family, Carrie Delgado, brought in dinner and Mom was able to eat a bit of soup and felt pretty good. So for now we will take this day by day and see how she does. As always your prayers and thoughts, calls and visits are needed and appreciated. Love to all.

Remission

Its been 6 months and 8 days since our lives were turned upside-down with the big "L" word. You always think that nothing like that could ever happen to your family but when it does its devestating. The Lord works in mysterious ways and I know that this trial in our lives was there to strengthen our family. Moms progress has been very steady and good over the last couple of months. She has traveled this road with such grace and has shown a strength beyond anything I could have imagined her capable of, comforting us when we broke down. But all of that aside today was a GREAT day, Kim traveled to Salt Lake with Mom and Dad today to her last Dr. appointment and it could not have gone better. The Dr. removed her central line and now she only has to wear her mask in large crowds or where there are sick people. So she will still use it for the next little while during cold and flu season. During her consult the Dr. told them that she has all of the best possible set of circumstances in her favor. She is officially in remission and she has the correct combination of mutated chromosomes that will give her a 55% chance of being CURED!!! The likelyhood of a relapse of the cancer is low but if it were to occour it would happen in the first 18 months to 2 years. If after 5 years she still shows no signs of any cancer then they will consider her cured. So for now she will fall into a routine of monthly bloodwork and evey 3 months she will have a bone marrow tap and they will just keep monitoring her. So keep her in your prayers and once again thanks to all who have prayed, visited, called, emailed, facebooked, and everything else you have done. Much love to all. I love you Mommy!

Still swollen

Well things are not going as swimmingly as I previously reported. The swelling has not gone down as much as I had thought. Dad says that Mom had been really sick and tired for those first few days in the hospital. She also has a blood clot in her neck area from the problem with the central line that they moved. so they are giving her even more yucky medicines to help with those issues. She finally felt good enough to get up and walk some on Sunday morning, but still isn't feeling really good.

Round 4

Well after several days of being home, since June 12, Mom went back to the hospital once again on Wednesday June 23rd for another round of Chemo. This time there was a bit of a "hang up". Mom had an infection in the area of her central line. They found that the wire inside the line had slipped out of place and I think they said it was twisted. So they tried an antibiotic and it gave her an allergic reaction. So they had tTo remove her central line from its location on the right and move it to the left side. hey also gave her a different antibiotic and within hours the swelling in her chest and neck had gone down significantly. So they were able to finally start this round of Chemo on Friday night. So please keep her in your prayers as I can assure you that they are working. Love to all!

Bald is beautiful

Well today was the big day Mom finally decided to have Whitney shave her hair off! I think she looks great and its just another step in the right direction on her path to wellness. She did not want to look at herself for a little while and finnaly Izzy took her by the hand and took her to the bathroom to take a peek. Like I say BALD IS BEAUTIFUL!!! Wear it proud mama!! LOVE YOU!!!

Build-up

So Mom has been in the hospital for "blood building" since Thursday. So we are waiting to see when they will let her go home again until the next round of Chemo. She looks great and still has some hair on her little round head. ;-) It is really good to see her and we are excited to be able to take her home sometime during the week for a few days. Timing was good for her to be able to attend grandson Garrett's high school graduation, and with any luck will be home to celebrate Isabel's 14th and Hyatt's 13th birthdays this weekend! Thank you to all who continue to send well wishes and prayers. Love to all!