the mother

So, no news is usually good news and that's been the case for a while but now we have news.

For the past couple of weeks or so Mom has been throwing up again and it wasn't too huge of a concern because her platelet levels were doing ok as were her white and red blood cell counts. Sadly, Monday when she went in for her fifth chemo treatment, her platelet count had dropped from 120 to 84 and they wouldn't let her have the treatment. I'd taken the day off work to spend with her at the doctor's office but since that wasn't allowed to happen we went to 7-11 for Slurpies and went home and hung out for the day.

During her weekly visit with the Dr, he suggested to my parents that Mom might need a stomache tube in order to alleviate the pressure on her stomach and keep her from throwing up so much. Since it sounds so invasive and intrusive and yet another tube sticking out of her, Mom rejected the idea.

Then, the doctor decided that since she's still throwing up that he needed to get a CT Scan to see what's going on in there after the past few chemo treatments.

The results came back today: nothing has changed.

Nothing? Really? After doing chemo since November and going through almost 2 complete rounds of 2 different treatments? Nothing?

The next step is still uncertain. Mom meets with the oncologist again on Monday to discuss what will happen next. She will also meet with a surgeon next Thursday to get a run down on what a stomach tube will be like and to see if she's even a candidate for it. Apparently, the cancer around her intestines might make the surgery unavailable for her.

Bleh. Mom is really frustrated because after all this time she was hoping the cancer would have loosened up on her intestines and that some progress would be visible. The good news is that it doesn't look like the cancer has progressed at all-- at least her chest cavity is still clear and it doesn't look like the other areas have more cancer cells than before.

On another note, last week Mom went to visit her Dr at the Huntsman- the guy who did her surgery last Fall- and he said that he thinks the chemo is working. Proof? He looked my mom in the eye and said, "You are still with us."

How's THAT for sobering news?

That little line sort of killed my week and has added to my stress level. Thankgoodness for prayer and faith and people who are keeping both up in behalf of my mom!