…follow Sissy's battle with cancer

Welcome change of plans happened today as Mom found out she can forgo her last two chemo treatments during radiation and instead just have the already planned six week chemo regimen a month after her radiation is finished.   She’s had a couple of really bad days recently and was hoping to get a reprieve or at least more medication to control all the side effects.   We are all just waiting for the 6th in a couple weeks to head back to Sulphur and our friends and family.

Keep those thoughts and prayers a-coming.

Mom has had her first couple radiation treatments and so far is tolerating it well though it may still be too early to fully tell.  Her sessions are lasting about 20 min and will continue until October 6th, which just happens to be her birthday.  I have updated both her and Dad’s schedules and you can view them here or by clicking on the schedule link on each blog.  You will see she gets her first chemo treatment of Cisplatin on the 7th.

We have family, Traci and kids, visiting this weekend so Mom has that to look forward to.  Don’t forget she is starting 5 weeks of radiation and chemo with 6 weeks of chemo after that while she is also planning for the worst and Dad’s possible funeral.  I’ve never been more proud of Mom than I am right now – talk about a strong woman!

Prayers and thoughts still very much welcome!

Mom’s reports are in from her hysterectomy and it looks like the cancer was in fact contained to the endometrial lining of the uterus.  Even with this great news she has learned that she will undergo about 5 or so weeks of radiation and up to 6 weeks of chemotherapy as a precaution due to the agressive nature of the type of cancer she has.  We will know more when the doctor speaks with his treatment team and calls again tomorrow.

Mom has just been discharged and is in the ICU waiting room waiting to hear if Dad will be sent to a regular room today.  We have also just received some good news that the next few nights we’ll have a place to stay courtesy of the social workers here at M.D. Anderson.  We’ll be at the Quality Inn on the corner of Kirby and 610 across from Reliant Stadium.

**Update** The free nights at a hotel didn’t happen due to red-tape but we have a hotel at a slightly reduced rate.

Mom made it through her surgery Wednesday and is in her second day of recovery.  The Dr. said he saw no signs of spread with his naked eye but won’t know for sure pending pathology results.  At this time we will also learn what kind of further treatments will be needed even if just as a precaution.  The surgery was carried out laparoschopiclly so recovery time should be minimized and in fact she will probably be sent “home” tomorrow (Friday).  She is currently in a room with no oxygen, IVs, or anything else attached to her, however she does have pain as is to be expected.

To give you an idea of how she’s doing she even made it a point to get a hair appointment and had that done around lunch today – yea we know but that’s what she wanted.

Stay tuned…

Here is Mom’s actual blood pressure readings for the last week or so.  You can see that without her blood pressure medication she has definitely overcome the low blood pressure readings that caused the cancelation of her surgery last week.  On top of that everyone has noticed a marked improvement in her well-being, endurance, and cognitive ability.  We visited one of her doctors Wednesday that said she should be O.K. for the second attempt at her hysterectomy this Wednesday.

The only negative is one only she perceives and that is a bit of cosmetic swelling now that she can’t take her blood pressure / fluid pills.  Stay tuned…

Mom returned home for a couple days with us yesterday after having survived a 2+ hour drive home with a catheter causing pain with every bump along I-10.  She was a trooper and pushed through and is enjoying a day of rest today and even a hair appointment tomorrow morning.  She called her Dr. in Houston today and asked if she could have the catheter removed as it was causing her much discomfort and he approved.  I am also relieved as I am now off pee-bag change and cleaning duty even though I can now say I am trained in such areas.

She is now back to normal and awaiting the second attempt at her hysterectomy in a week or two now that her blood pressure has returned to a relatively normal range.

Today was interesting.  Mother’s surgery was postponed due to low blood pressure.  Her readings were as low as 73/38 so the anesthesiologist gave her a no-go.  She was also admitted to the hospital overnight for observation as the readings haven’t climbed much higher.  The plan is to take her off or reconfigure all her medications and see where we are in a week or so.  Other than being disappointed that the surgery didn’t take place, she’s in good spirits. We’ll know more about if she’ll be discharged later today which means we might be going back to Sulphur for a few days before mid-week Dr. appointments.

This picture is a role reversal from a couple weeks ago…

I sat with Mom through her appointment today and received some pretty good news.  Dr. Frumovitz went over the results of her CT scan and said it did not appear from the images alone that the cancer had spread outside the uterus.  He cautioned that they won’t know for sure until after the hysterectomy and he inspects the surrounding areas.  He also explained that out of the M.M.M.T. cases he has seen this looks to be one of the better ones for a positive outcome.   He confirmed that the surgery will take place Friday, no exact time just yet, and he will be removing some surrounding lymph nodes as a precaution.   The surgery will be attempted laparoscopically initially and if he can remove all he needs using that method she will only require an overnight stay in the hospital.  Stay tuned!

Based on all the test yesterday Mother got the O.K. from her internist for her hysterectomy to continue as planned to remove the primary tumor along with the uterus on the 16th.  So much like Dad, things are on track for Mom as well.  Keep those thoughts and prayers coming.