I'm a Slacker

Well, when it comes to blogging, yes. But rest assured, my lack of posts is secondary only to my very important business at home (shopping for pajamas, cleaning out mom's closet, scheduling her mini holidays, making shrimp scampi, etc). I simply haven't had a free second!

But we're moving along famously. A quick re-cap of the past week:

Thursday she had the Ommaya Port placed, no issues. Friday was her first treatment of Methotrexate in the Ommaya, which was far from issue free. I'd flown the coop late Thursday night, but Mom's baby sister Stephanie was by her side giving me play-by-plays of how things went down. The treatment itself is very quick. A small needle is inserted in to the port, three ml's of cerebral spinal fluid are pulled out, then three ml's of chemo are put in. Et voila. But shortly after the treatment, Mom felt flushed, dizzy, nauseated, like she was losing control. Apparently this isn't an all together unusual adverse reaction, so since then she's been well pre-medicated with steroids, anti-nausea, and anti-histamine drugs to prevent similar reactions.

She was discharged Saturday to a home full of family, which made her endlessly happy. Tuesday she had her second Methotrexate treatment in the Ommaya with some issues, but not as severe as the first time, and today, we're back again, for treatment number 3 in the Oh-Oh-Mmaya.

Otherwise the week has been filled with visitors, phone calls, emails, cooking, naps, and slave labor. I mean... perhaps that is a little harsh, but anyone who knows my mother knows she's a fan of the "list," and our house is never without multiple "lists" just floating around waiting for someone to cross things off. So Gwennie and I have been tackling lists like it is nobody's business, getting things in order, and hopefully alleviating things from Mom's plate.

The new development in Mom's treatment plan is that we are introducing a new regimen of chemotherapuetics to her system because some of the cancer in her lymph nodes that originally got her on the clinical trial and Dana Farber has returned. We know this purely by looking and touch. We were presented with several options today after Dana Farber and St. Francis had communicated with one another, and we've decided to go aggressive. This treatment will involved her getting 4 different chemo drugs over the course of three consecutive days. The side effects will be more pronounced (nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite), however, the idea is that with proper management of these side effects, she'll actually be more comfortable and maybe this persist ant dizziness will subside.

Sounds backwards, I understand, but as of now Mom is unable to walk without a walker. The idea is that if we hit this cancer "locally," meaning right into the cerebral spinal fluid, as well as "systemically," meaning into the blood stream, we have a better shot and suppressing the cancer growth and the associated negative side effects (dizziness).

Overall, Mom's spirits are excellent, but her energy is limited. She's had a few visitors this past week which she has loved, but it is certainly best for her when they're spread out, so thank you to her wonderful and patient friends that haven't been able to stop by yet. Soon enough, I promise!

New treatment begins Monday for three consecutive days, and I'll be sitting a LOT, so expect and update then.

Have a lovely weekend!