Happy Mothers Day Mom

Speed Bumps to Recovery

Well, I guess we aren't getting a break as soon as we thought. Thursday night mom started to have abdominal pain. Friday morning and all day she was having both nausea and pain and throwing up. She couldn't keep anything down and the pain continuted to get worse. Dad to her to the ER at Kadlec Medical Center and they treated her with pain meds through and IV and took her down to x-ray. Xray didn't show any signs of ulcers or problems, and the recent PET scan she had was on file but no red flags were there apparently. Her pain was about a 10 going in and they sent her home with about a 2-3. She had a little beef broth for dinner and that was it. Saturday morning was a replay of Friday. Vommiting and severe nausea and pain. I coached her through breathing and tried to get some nausea and pain meds down and wouldn't let her throw them up. After about 3 hours of that we were both exasted and mom gave up. I drove her back to Kadlec and they put her back to ER immediately. This time they did an ultrasound first then a CT scan of the lower abdomen. The ultrasound was insignificant but the CT showed a obstruction in the bowel. She has had 3 previous hernia surgeries in the lower right side, one in 1968 and the other 2 in 2001 that never really did get resolved. Apparently a piece of the small intestine had gotten incarcinated and was causing an obstruction. Obstructions are not good and can become dangerous pretty fast if not treated. As they were prepping the O.R. a trauma case came in so they pushed surgery back a little more. We planned on going in around 10:00 PM Sat night and it ended up being 11:40 before they took her to prep the anestesia. She usually has problems with nausea from the anestesia but they gave her a spinal so she wouldn't have problems and compromise her lungs or heart (given her cancer history). She came out of surgery coherent and awake. She is having some pain but they are treating her with a self-serve dose botton and she has been resting on and off all day. They didn't have to cut any intestine out which was good. Dr. Kincaid (the surgeon) said he could see the stiches from the previous operations and they left one little section open where the intestine was getting into. Kind of like a little pocket, it had gotten stuck in it but couldn't get out. She was able to get up today and go to the bathroom, brush her teeth and walk by herself. The nurse took her cathader out and the tube out of her tummy so she feels more normal now. If she can get her bowels working they will let her eat tomorrow. She is so strong and brave. I am proud of her. I can't believe she can be so strong. I am a wuss, I got tired just coaching her through not throwing up and the pain.... Melanie:"Breath mom Breath, in your nose out your mouth, you can do this, you are strong, you will do this, you are strong, let me her you say you can do this. It is important for you to tell yourself you can do this. Out loud, tell me you can do this." Mom, "I am strong, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this." She did that for three hours without meds before we finally went to the ER. The previous night, they told us to come back if the pain got worse and/if she had a fever and told her it was probably just a virus of some sort.

BREAK TIME

Mom had a post chemo follow up appointment with Dr.Weeks (Oncologist) yesterday. She is doing well, all her blood work looks good. She is a little on the anemic side but better than usual and nothing to worry about. Her tumor markers have both gone down. We are not really sure what they mean or what they track besides the identity or metabolism of the cancer itself. Before chemo one was 198 and has moved down to 19.3. (last round it was 25). The other was around 1200 last time and is down about 300 points or so in the 1000's. She has a PET scan scheduled this Thursday and we will be able to find out more with that. Here is some information on PET scans if you don't understand:
A PET scan measures important body functions, such as blood flow, oxygen use, and sugar (glucose) metabolism, to help doctors evaluate how well organs and tissues are functioning.

What are some common uses of the procedure?
PET scans are performed to:
detect cancer
determine how much a cancer has spread in the body
assess the effectiveness of a treatment plan, such as cancer therapy
determine if a cancer has returned after treatment
determine blood flow to the heart muscle
determine the effects of a heart attack, or myocardial infarction, on areas of the heart
identify areas of the heart muscle that would benefit from a procedure such as angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery (in combination with a myocardial perfusion scan).
evaluate brain abnormalities, such as tumors, memory disorders and seizures and other central nervous system disorders
to map normal human brain and heart function

The plan is to have about 6 months off of chemo to help mom build up her system and get strong again and wait to see what the PET Scan shows us. They will continue to do lab work each month to watch her blood and marker levels and she will have to have her port flushed along the way. She is hoping to have a great summer and be able to get out in the garden and do some more outside. FISHING OF COURSE. Last week she made cinnamon rolls, went to the gym and did a little exercise and yesterday she washed the windows outside the house. CONGRATULATIONS MOM, YOU'RE BACK!