Treatment # 4

Big blessing.... Mama didn't have to get more blood yesterday. Her blood count was higher than it's been in a long time! We were so excited for her. It makes for a long day when you spend 4-5 hours at chemo and then have to spend 7+ hours getting blood. She started 3 different kinds of chemo drugs yesterday. Since they found the cancer in the stomach, the doctor wanted to start a more effective chemo for the type of cancer she has. It took longer this time because they had to explain the new drugs and all that good stuff. She was also sent home with a pouch that has a chemo drug that will be administered over a 48 period. We go back Wednesday to get that taken off. She will only be going for treatment every other week now. So we have next week off!!!! She felt really good last night. Actually had some energy. Not enough to run around the block, but more than she's had in the past week. We also had a special visitor that we haven't seen in about 10 years. He and his family lived next door to us for many years. They live in Illinois now, and he's down on a business trip. It was so good to see him again.

The doctor said mama would have even less side effects from this chemo. The main thing is going to be extreme temperatures. She can't drink anything really cold or really hot for a few days after each treatment. She also can't touch really cold things either, as in reaching into the fridge or freezer for anything. Good thing its summer. The doctor said that many people who are on these drugs in the winter have a hard time even opening car door because the handle is so cold. Mama hasn't lost any hair yet, and the doc said she has an even less chance of losing hair with the new drugs. Hair loss may be a minor thing compared to whats going on, but it does give her that peace of mind. Anything to make my mommy happy :D

Please pray that she will do well with these new drugs and that the cancer will begin to shrink. She is retaining alot of fluid, almost 25lbs worth. She is really tight around the abdominal area and her legs and feet. As the cancer shrinks, it will help reduce the fluid!

Thank you all for the prayers, cards, and visits so far. It means so much!

Update

As we were told from the beginning, the type of cancer that is in the liver usually does not originate in the liver. They just didn't know where it started until yesterday. They did another endoscopy yesterday (thursday) morning and found a large ulcer in there. The final test results wont come back till monday, but they did enough swaps to tell that there is cancer there. They believe that is where it originated from. They are changing the type of chemo she will receive. She will get 3 new types of chemo and will also get a portable chemo that will attach to her side on monday and will wear till wednesday. She will only get chemo every other week now. Please pray for my mom. Please leave comments, prayers, and/or encouraging words for her to read on here.

More adventures

Apparently Mama didn't feel like she was getting enough attention with just the liver cancer. She had a great Saturday and a sleepy Sunday. Monday she was still a little droggy, but she was getting used to a different pain medicine and the chemo didn't help with the drogginess. I was actually able to be with her during this chemo treatment. We got to the docs about 10:00 and left about 1:00. After a quick trip to Walmart to get a couple necessities we went to the house and she snoozed for the good part of the afternoon. Since our church is having revival this week, we were planning on going. We had dinner about 5:30 and about half way through she started getting sick. Thinking that it was just a one time thing we were going to go on with our plans for church. After the second time of getting sick, we decided we better stay put for the night. She started seeing blood coming up as well. We called her doctor and took her on to the emergency room. They admitted her and had a room for her only 2 hours later. They gave her 4 units of plasma during the night and then started her on 3 units of blood . This afternoon they have given her 4 more units of plasma... one of those still going in as I type this. They are going to do some more tests to see if her blood counts are up. We are pretty certain this doesn't have anything to do with the cancer. We are hoping that she will be able to go home in the next day or so. We will know more later on tonight! On the brighter side of things, the meds they gave her this morning made her very looney acting. She was very silly! She has had many visitors as well. Hopefully the doctors and nurses will let her sleep a little tonight!

Treatment #2 and then some...

So after a few good days, and a few not as good days, it was time for another treatment. And of course nothing goes quite as planned either, cause that would just be too nice! After the treatment, she was told to go over to the hospital to get another transfusion. 2 units of blood. And exactly how long does it take to get 2 units of blood into a person's body???? FOREVER. They started their day about 9-9:30ish AM and Mama called me about 8:00PM and was still laying in the hospital watching the units drip into her body. But good things happened today too! The ladies that she works with at Sam's made a HUGE basket of goodies for her. Things like teddy bears, coloring books, novels, candy, and so much more. There were also cards in there from other people in the Sam's club! I haven't seen the basket for myself yet, but I could tell she was SUPER excited about it. Besides talking to me on the phone, it was the highlight of her day :D. (I just had to add that in there) Hopefully she will have a good night and rest of the week. The meds make her a little energetic. Last monday night she wasn't able to sleep well. Hopefully she will be able to sleep tonight! I'll be coming into goldsboro tomorrow for a while! I can't wait to see my mommy :D