Cycle 2, Day 1

Tuesday marked the start of the second cycle of treatment, each cycle being 3 weeks. Mom had chemo, an EKG, some blood work, and overall her team is very impressed with how well she is doing. Her blood work shows that she is neutropenic, which means her white blood cell count is lower than desirable. White blood cells are responsible for fighting infection, and it is very common that they get attacked during chemotherapy. Because this makes Mom more prone to infection, she has to be diligent about hand-washing, staying away from fresh cut flowers, not eating uncooked fruits or vegtables, and checking her temperature regularly. If you're sick and planning on visiting, don't even THINK about.

The other thing we've learned is that her "good" cholesterol (HDL) is low, and her "bad" cholesterol (LDL) is too high. I don't believe this impacts her cancer on a day to day basis necessarily, but my point in sharing is that anyone who knows my mother knows she makes a lot of effort to live a healthy life, so if you haven't had your cholesterol checked recently, make sure you do at your next visit. Many of the CVS Minute Clinics (started by a Simmons nurse, thank you very much) provide cholesterol checks too. I recently ran in to someone who hadn't seen a doctor in 9 years! I almost fell out of my chair- there is so much screening that occurs in a routine visit, and it is so essential to make sure we're all getting our regular check ups. So if you're one of those people, take care of it!

We also learned that the skin biopsies taken last Tuesday show evidence of cancer. This isn't terribly surprising considering they all seemed to pop up when her cancer recurred, and we already know the cancer is moving through they lymph system. So what? Some cancer cells were dropped off on her skin along the way. It doesn't change the course of action, it doesn't change her clinical trial, we just keep on truckin' forward toward the CT scan in a few weeks.

The morning of Mom's chemo I knew she'd gotten up much earlier than me, so I crept by Gwennie sleeping in the living room and assumed I'd find her in the kitchen reading, but then there she was doing her qi gong. I wish I could have somehow captured the moment of her standing in front of the window, rainy grey mist outside, wearing a beautiful head scarf drenched in yellow and orange, going through the slow motions. It made me stop and realize that Mom is really doing everything in her power to take control over her body. It really is a lesson to us: now is the time to take care of ourselves and do the things necessary to pave the way towards a long and healthy life. There is plenty we cannot control, but we can control the choices we make every day towards being healthy individuals and supporting one another in doing so.

That's my last plug for annual physicals!