In the single digits

Mom's treatments are now in the single digits. She has 7 more to go and then she will be able to ring the bell in the radiation oncology department's waiting area. (The bell is to symbolize the end of treatment, or on occasion a round of treatment, and gives those still in treatment hope. The day that I took Mom to UMMC, two patients rang the bell and everyone in the waiting room clapped. It's pretty emotional because of what each patient and their family goes through.)

At Mom's appointment with the medical oncologist today, she learned that her white blood cell count had increased (good thing) and therefore is to increase her nightly chemo dose from two pills to three until the end of treatment. She also lost 7 pounds (bad thing) so she has to increase her meals from 3 to 5 per day. If the surgical oncologist decides that she is not strong enough to go through surgery then he will not perform the Whipple procedure. Mom is okay with the number of meals-she even said tonight that she has a bit of an appetite (good thing) and wants to eat rather than what she has been doing which is eating because she knows it's good for her.

After all the treatments are finished, Mom will have another CT scan in about 6 weeks. Once the doctors have the results, her team will meet and decide what to do next. Hopefully, the decision will be to do the surgery, which has a recovery time of 5-12 weeks. Please keep Mom in your thoughts and prayers while she finishes her treatments and that the doctors have the power to heal her.

Messy

Our house is a mess. It's in a mess because we're getting new bamboo floors. The wood was delivered on Friday. The moisture test was done on Friday and we passed so that means work starts this morning. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Jason and I have been trying to get the majority of stuff put away so that the workmen can move the furniture more easily. We've been doing this since before we knew the work would start today. It's definitely more difficult to move things around with an 11 1/2 month old wanting you to play with him and not wanting to take his naps.

We made sure the recycling went out (so that was one less thing to worry about), made sure DJP's bag was ready to go so that Jason would not have to worry about that in the morning, and Ophelia is having a mini vacation at Spa Grandma (Thanks Mom!!!). You would think there wasn't much more to be done. HA! There were still the throw rugs to be picked up as well as the toys. The dishwasher to be emptied (since they're moving that). The pictures and calendar and magnets from the fridge (since they're moving that too). Of course, I forgot that there was stuff ON TOP of the fridge that needed to be moved too...Thank you dear husband for taking care of that!!!

We shall see how the progress goes...the company said that they would be finished in 2 days...updates later on that!

Plan 2.5

Mom had her doctor's appointment and radiation treatment yesterday. She did not have her chemo treatment because both her white and red cell counts were low. So the newest plan is to have Mom take chemo pills (since they are a lower dose of chemo) two times a day each day she has radiation (Monday thru Friday). Hopefully the chemo pills will be delivered by Wednesday afternoon so that Mom can start taking them and see if there are any side effects that she can discuss at her next appointment on Monday with the doctor. If she doesn't get them by Thursday, she will have to reschedule her doctor's appointment for the next Monday. If the chemo pills cause Mom's red and white cells to remain low she will not do chemo at all and just stick with the radiation.

Another change, but still moving forward.