Chicken Soup for the Soul

My sincerest apologies for not blogging these past two days, but please be assured that if I don't post, all is well and we are just busy keeping Mom comfortable and happy!

Gwennie and I arrived Wednesday afternoon at 4pm, and Mom was nothing but smiles to see Gwennie. Tuesday had been a good day in that she was feeling a bit more energetic, but overall, Wednesday was a bit slower and less comfortable of a day.

I stayed with her Wednesday night and made sure we were all over her meds and way ahead of her symptoms. I think it may have even worked!

We woke up this morning and headed to St. Frannie's to meet mom's oncologist, Dr. D., who was absolutely wonderful. She spent about 2 and a half hours with us, getting a thorough history, going over the pathology reports, and explaining our options for future treatment.

She explained to us that a very good chunk of tissue surrounding the tumor was removed, including muscle and fat. When the tumor was examined under the microscope, it was found to be very aggressive transitional cell cancer, with squamous differentiation. These terms will mean nothing to most people, but the take home message is that the cancer was very aggressive, unusually so for where it is. According to what Dr. D. interpreted, the border from where the tissues were removed were clean of cancer cells, however because of the aggressive nature of what was removed, they have reason to be concerned that some microscopic cells could still remain in her body.

She will begin chemotherapy after the New Year. She will receive one drug (carboplatin/Paraplatin) on week 1, then a combo of the first drug and another (gamcitabine/Gemzar) on week 2, then week 3 she gets off. These three weeks count as one full cycle, and she will complete 6 cycles in total. Side effects include, but are not limited to nausea, vomiting, hair loss, anemia (low red blood cell count), low white blood cell count (increased risk for infection), risk of bruising and bleeding from low platelet count, fatigue, constipation (tell me about it), and lots of other pleasantries. Everyone responds differently to chemotherapy, so there is no telling how Mom will tolerate all of this, but we will just have to wait and see. I feel so blessed that my boss has essentially let me off the hook until I begin my new job March 19th, which means I can be with mom for her first three cycles.

We also met Judy, our nurse. She works with Dr. D., and will be mom's primary oncology nurse, and get this, we have a number to her direct line. HALLELUJAH! It's a shame that one has to develop cancer to get this sort of consistency in care and attentiveness, but what can you do? Judy really spent time with us discussing our concerns surrounding Mom's persistent nausea and lack of bowel movement for eight days. The trouble is that everything she takes to relieve pain and nausea is HUGELY constipating. The other major concern is that mom probably consumes 500 calories a day, if that. She just can't take more of one or two bites of anything. So Judy suggested some Ensure or Boost, which are high calorie supplement drinks, and really pushing Mom to eat bland, easily digested food when the nausea is at bay. She even asked to keep mom for 3 hours so she could give her some IV fluid, so I went and brought Gwennie to her pre-op appointment, and by the time we were done, we picked up mom who had slept the entire time, and was snacking on saltines when we walked in.

It is such a beautiful thing, to know that these two women are really going to invest in my Mom's care from a holistic point of view, and will see her on a very consistent basis. Puts my mind at such ease...

We finally arrived home at 5pm to find Lynn and Ivan stopping by for a quick hug on their way to Greenwich, and we were all here to applaud Mom's first bowel movement in eight days. It's incredible how we take these small things for granted. We'll bring a sample in tomorrow to see if the c.diff has finally cleared, because if Mom could stop taking the Flagyl which is the only effective treatment, she would start feeling  a lot better.

Now she's watching Friends with Gwennie, and just ate half a mug of chicken soup from Marilyn, which she said is the best tasting thing she's had since her surgery. So way to be Marilyn!

We've all be enjoying the delicious deliveries too, especially some brownies from our family friend Judy, which have to be enjoyed in the office/Tante Didi's room because Papa's not allowed to partake. We're so scandalous!

My college girlfriends also sent a blood orange tree from William Sonoma today- I mean seriously- the shower of generosity and thoughtfulness has been overwhelming, so a huge thank you to everything you all have been up to!