And my sister and I went to chemo with her. I had never gone before, so this was an interesting experience. We were there at 9, she did her blood work, saw her oncologist, then we had to wait to check into her room. They really make it up nice for her there at the new hospital. They give her a completely private room where there is a lot of room for her to have guests. So they had to wait for the dr to order her "chemo cocktail." I guess it takes time to make sure that she is getting the right chemo meds, so it was a waiting game. Finally by 1230-100, she had her iv in, and was getting her meds. They have to glove up and put on these special gowns while they are handling her meds. It is kinda scary! So we all hung out for a few hours, napped, ate, walked around the hospital. It was a nice afternoon all things considering. We found out that mom will need to have the full 6 sessions of chemo afterall. Her dr feels like he really wants to shrink the tumor as small as possible so that come surgery, they will be sure to get all of it. They don't want to give her false hopes that this will be the end of her chemo, so they stop it early, only to find out there are still major cells remaining at the tumor site, and then she has to go back for more chemo afterall. She is content with this though. That is what matters. I just want this OVER. I want my mom to have her normal life back. She looks so tired, and she is getting thin. I saw her legs today and just took me by surprise a little.
This means her chemo ends the end of September. Her surgery will be maybe 1-3 weeks after. After her surgery she will start radiation for get this, 6 weeks straight, at 5 times a week. Gasp. That means no traveling, no plans for 6 weeks. She is going to be more exhausted and will have many different side effects from getting radiation. It is so sad. We wanted to go to the mountains and rent a house for Thanksgiving for her so she could be in the snow, but that will need to wait. I told her today that that trip will be postponed and we will just rename it her "I just finished cancer treatment retreat." she smiled. :)
My mom looks 20 years older than she is. I know it is because she hasn't worn makeup, but I just can't wait to see her happy again. Like really, really happy.
2 comments:
I'm sorry H, but there really will be a happy ending. I hope the rest goes as smoothly as possible. How nice of you to be there for her!! Hugs
Thinking of you and your mom, Heather. She's an incredibly strong woman, with an incredibly supportive family. She will beat this!
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