April 19, 2011

Ruth/Mom/Grammy and I went to Baylor All Saints today for her to have what we thought would be surgery to remove her first port and replace it with a second port on the other side of her chest. When we checked in, I thought it was a little strange that they sent us directly to Radiology instead of to Day Surgery like the last time, but since the last time they eventually took Mom to Radiology to insert her port and feeding tube and, Johnny and I waited in the same waiting room Mom and I were now waiting in, I didn't worry too much. When the nurse came to get us, it was one of the same nurses who had been there for her 1st port surgery. She told us that Dr. Patel thought he could, and would like to try to, manually flip the port back to its original/correct position. We both went back in the Radiology wing and, they took Mom to one room while I waited in another. I heard and saw Dr. Patel and the nurse (can't remember her name) as they were conferring over an x-ray they were trying to take of Mom's port. The next thing I knew, Mom was coming out of the room and, for some reason, I figured we were going to to Day Surgery to get ready for surgery. Instead, the nurse said we could go home because when the doctor checked out Mom's port and the x-ray she had taken, the port had already flipped back to its original/correct position on its own. (Okay, not on its own. God, thank you!) They even accessed the port to be sure it would be ready for the next round of chemotherapy. Anyway, it was like Christmas in July and it was time to celebrate! Mom and I went to Red Lobster (one of our favorite restaurants) for lunch and, later that afternoon, I took her to Baker Street Pub to see her friends whom she had not seen in about a month. What a day! Thank you for all your prayers for Ruth/Mom/Grammy! Please don't stop praying!

April 18, 2011

Kip took Ruth/Mom/Grammy to her second chemotherapy infusion at Texas Oncology today. They had to do it through an IV in her arm instead of her port as the port still appears to be flipped and cannot be accessed. She seems to be tolerating the chemotherapy well. It does appears the nausea medicine Dr. Nugent prescribed for her to take and, which the nurses recommended she take even if she is not nauseous, is making her dizzy, sleepy, lethargic, etc. She has decided not to take the nausea medicine unless she really needs it and thankfully, at this time, she does not. Tomorrow I will take her to Baylor for day surgery to remove the 1st port and place a 2nd port on the other side.

April 15, 2011

Kip took Ruth/Mom/Grammy to Baylor All Saints to have her port checked today. Her port has indeed "flipped" and Dr. Patel and the nurse recommended mom put warm compresses on her port to help with the swelling, stop taking her blood thinner, and return to the hospital next week to have the 1st port removed and a 2nd port placed on the other side of her chest. Needless to say, Mom is not too happy about the prospects of a second surgery and a second port.

April 11, 2011

Ruth/Mom/Grammy had her first chemotherapy infusion today which took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to infuse. She also began taking a pill form of another chemotherapy drug.  She is also taking an anti-nausea medication which seems to be working. She is taking a smaller dose of the pill form than would normally be prescribed for a younger person as well as having chemotherapy infusion less often. She is doing well and she continues to eat orally instead of through her feeding tube. She has even gained a pound! The only problem we are having right now is with her infusion port. Somehow her port has "flipped," probably due to the hematoma she developed after the surgery to implant the port. She still has swelling around the port which is probably causing it to tilt or flip and the swelling is making it hard to tell exactly how much it has flipped. She has been told to put warm compresses on the port site to help decrease the swelling. Because of the continued swelling and incorrect positioning of the port, her chemotherapy oncologist wisely decided to not use the port for infusion but instead gave her chemotherapy through an IV in her arm. Later this week, Ruth/Mom/Grammy is to return to Baylor All Saints where she had the port implanted and the doctor who performed the surgery is going to check the port and see if there is anything that he can do to reposition the port and speed up the healing process.

Thank you for all your prayers. They lift us up and I know Mom's weigh gain and tolerance of the the chemotherapy is because of your prayers and God's intervention.

April 6, 2011

Ruth/Mom/Grammy was supposed to begin chemotherapy today, but her PT/INR level from taking a blood thinner for her atrial fibrillation was too high. She was disappointed as she is ready to get this battle under way. She had not lost any more weight, which is good. She continues to eat food normally as well as receive nutrition through her feeding tube. She is very tired at times which is to be expected. We will try to start chemotherapy next week. Thank you everyone for all your prayers.

April 4, 2011

Today Ruth/Mom/Grammy went for a follow-up visit back to the hospital where she had the surgery to insert her feeding tube and chemotherapy port.  Her feeding tube looks good and, as I said in the last entry, she has already had a meal through the tube. Unfortunately, her chemotherapy port had a hematoma around it which had to be drained. The liquid was sent off to the lab to have it checked out. There was also some swelling around the port. I'm not sure if this will postpone her chemotherapy or not. We will find out later this week.

April 1, 2011

Ruth/Mom/Grammy went to see her dietician, Lisa Hall, at Texas Oncology today. Lisa told her she needs to be drinking 1/2 to 1 can of Boost or Ensure a day. She also ordered her the liquid food/nutrition that will be used to feed her through her feeding tube to keep her weight up during chemotherapy and radiation. As I type this, Kip has already helped Mom to "eat" one can of the "food" through her tube.

After she saw the dietician, Ruth/Mom/Grammy went to see Dr. Nugent, her chemotherapy oncologist. He again said that he thinks she is too old for chemotherapy as she will be the oldest person he has ever treated for cancer. He is very concerned about what the chemotherapy will do to her already weakened body. Unfortunately, the alternative is not very acceptable either. She insisted to the doctor that she really wants to attempt the chemotherapy and that if she cannot handle it, we have the alternative to just do radiation without shrinking the cancer first with chemotherapy. Since Mom insisted she knows what she wants and she wants to fight the cancer, Dr. Nugent finally agreed to help her fight it to the best of his ability. She begins chemotherapy soon, after her port heals a little longer. Please pray for Mom's strength, endurance, and especially her healing.