Almost 1/2-way Through!

Well....yeah.....for those wondering what is up with my mom, here you go!

Last chemo, 3 weeks ago, went well.  After the 1st chemo, she knew what to expect, she knew what medication combinations to take to help what, and was better about taking them early to stay on top of things.

Like for the bone pain from the white blood cell stimulating medication, she takes Aleve and Claritin every 12 hrs, and she started it before the aches even set in.  Helped immensely!

She was again very, very tired and fatigued, and stayed close to home for the week after chemo.  After about 9 days post chemo, she starts to get her energy back, and will venture out to run errands and such.

The digestive issues were different from last time, so trying to keep things in balance with diet and medications were a day to day thing.  Still no nausea though, which is fantastic.

Her new side effect is skin related....Lots of sores on her face, arms, head, neck....looks exactly like when she would go visit the dermatologist and he would go to town with the liquid nitrogen freezing the "bad skin" spots. She also had an odd reaction on the palms of her hands, and soles of her feet: bright red and super tender and sore.

A little over a week ago she was here so Ron could file her taxes, and she showed me another recent development....she had some odd swelling on her chest (surgery side) from under her collarbone to her armpit.  Rounded and somewhat firm.  I told her it looked like either lymphedema or she needed to get her drain put back in, and asked her to call the surgeon about it the next day.  She did, and luckily her surgeon was back THAT DAY from her maternity leave, and they were able to get her in.  Sure enough, Dr. Tittensor wanted to put the drain back in, and scheduled the surgery for last Friday.  She also noted my mom's skin issues, and wanted the oncologist to see her, and he was able to get her in immediately.

The burned looking spots are exactly that, but instead of the liquid nitrogen burning them like the dermatologist does, this is the chemicals in the chemo burning them from the inside out.  Dr. Bott (oncologist) told her she'll have great skin once they peel and are gone. The palms and soles of her feet thing is a bit more concerning.  It is a syndrome that some patients get from Taxotere, which is one of the chemo drugs she gets. They are going to "watch" it this next time, and if it gets too bad, they will decrease the dose of the Taxotere. At this point, they aren't quite as tender, but they are still red, and peeling.

Last Friday's procedure went well.  She is glad she called the surgeon, because by Friday the swelling had more than tripled in size, and was getting quite uncomfortable and sore.  Dr. Tittensor got the drain back in, and immediately drained off 1/2L (about 2 cups) of fluid.  She will have the drain for at least two weeks.  It is still draining pretty steadily at this point, and my mom is crossing her fingers for it to slow down soon.

Today's chemo went well.  Her blood counts were all down to just below normal levels, but not low enough that she needed any blood products.  We talked about how it was nice to have 3 of the treatments done now, only 3 more of the chemo to go!

Not that you really have a goal to reach your max out-of-pocket on your health insurance, that has now happened. It doesn't take long when you have 2 surgeries, MRI's, and a single chemo treatment costs -- sit down for this -- $22,000 (and she has 6 treatments, plus Herceptin for a year!). *ouch!* At least now she is 100% covered for the year, including co-pays. I cannot imagine what people go through that have to pay fully for this treatment.  Unbelievably devastating.

So that's that. I know my mom is doing well through this because of the power of prayer, and also through her wonderful attitude.  Even her surgeon told her she is doing so well because she just doesn't complain about stuff. Even on the yucky exhausting days in the week after chemo, she knows that it'll get better, and almost has a countdown going to get to the better days.