Round #2 - No Go

I came home from the hospital last Monday and rested all week. I was able to attend the Green Family Reunion with all Mother's relatives except 2 cousins who could not come. They automatically got elected as Chairwomen of the Reunion in 2011 (sorry Lucy and Carol Ann -- you should have come!). Thanks to our "Millionaire" Uncle Jack for paying for brunch on Sunday, although we all had to write checks to him!! He has to keep his good credit report in case Auntie Ann needs more diamonds and emeralds!!

Heather is so supportive (as are David and Trisha), and I do so love her being in Blacksburg for the summer. She calls everyday to check on me and I could not move this weekend without her worrying over me. She is such a beautiful young woman, inside and out, and I'm so proud to call her my daughter. She is my "Baby Girl" for sure (Sugarland song).

They did a CT scan while I was in the hospital and determined that the 2nd round of chemo did not work. We knew there was that possibility up front but Dr. McCoy wanted to try the treatment anyway. There is a new tumor in my left abdomen that has no activity, and the right one has not shrunk.

With my children's support, I am going to take a month off from chemo. As the home health care nurse said this morning, it's all a matter of quality of life and right now, I want these wounds to health first. The only one that still causes me pain is my abdomen wound, but the port-au-catheter and right leg blood clot are doing great. I have so much empathy for people who have to take pain medication everyday -- it is the pits. I do pretty well if I can stay ahead of the pain but I usually end up behind it so that sucks (in a word).

I have an appointment with the oncologist tomorrow to determine the next plan of action, but I'm told I'll probably have to go to a stronger level of chemo. There is talk of a treatment that involves oral medications only, and I'm all for that. For the first time in my life, needles scare me to death.

I hope to go to Greenville late next week and recuperate at D & T's. They have invited me to do that and you know I'll get my walking time there, thanks to David. They have bought a home and close on it the end of July, so I'm anxious to see it.

Thanks again to the wonderful friends who have donated their precious vacation days to me so I can stay home and continue to recuperate.

Please keep those thoughts and prayers coming -- I'll take all I can get!

Beth

Beth is Home

I just spoke with Mom and Heather in Blacksburg. Mom left the hospital today. She is very tired and is happy to sleep in her own bed tonight. We have a huge family reunion this weekend in Danville, VA, and she is planning to rest up her strength for that event.

Thanks to everyone for their continued thoughts and prayers.

A Good Visit with Mom

Mom, Dad, and I just had a great visit tonight at the hospital.  She was sitting up and eating spaghetti and a little bit of salad when I walked into her room.  She was visiting with Kay and I know she loved hearing about her recent vacation.  After dinner we put on some "walking clothes" and some tennis shoes and went for a walk.  Mom made it up the hall and back!  So impressed! Awesome job Mom! :)

Mom seems to be running a fever just during the night.  We are not sure why that is, but at least she isn't running a fever during the day of a 102-104 like last week.  She is getting her wound bandages changed daily and that can be painful for her.  The nursing staff usually gives her pain medicine so if her phone is off she is probably sleeping the medication off.  Mom is still having pain in her stomach and on Sunday they did a scan to see if there is more infection in her abdomen because of all her discomfort.  We do not know the results of her scan, but hope to find out tomorrow morning.  

We are hopeful that Mom can go home sometime this week.  There was mention today of her getting to go home on Wednesday.  I think we will know more when we visit with the doctors tomorrow morning.  Mom is really motivated to go to her family reunion this coming weekend in Danville and we hope to take her there.   Her spirits remain positive and she has had a great nurse the past three days.  Here's to hoping Mom can come home this week! :) 

Good Morning All!

I am sitting with Mom this morning and I asked her how she felt on a scale of 1 to 10 and she said a 7.  I'll take that.  Mom had a pretty good day yesterday.  She ate some crackers and a small container of cherry jello and lime jello.  She walked the hallway again and did really well.  She was not running a fever yesterday which we were encouraged by.  

This morning she took some pain medicine for her stomach wound.  Her nurse just assessed her wounds and she is going to change her dresssings late morning/early afternoon so they can hopefully heal faster.  She wanted a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast and ate the whole cookie.  Hopefully we can get Mom up and walking later and she can enjoy some lunch.  

Mom's spirits are good, she continues to make me laugh, have lots of patience, and make the best of whats around.  :) 

Thursday Update

Mom is not feeling as well this morning.  She was running a fever yesterday afternoon and last night of 102.  She didnt feel like eating anything and she didnt have the energy to take another walk down the hall.  She felt sick to her stomach and was given some pain medicine to help her rest.  She slept really well last night and is enjoying a morning nap as I sit with her.  The infectious diease doctor came by to take a look at Mom and adjust some of her antibodics.  Her right side and arm are a little swollen and because of the swelling they had to move her IV line from her right arm to the top of her left hand.  Hopefully she will feel better this afternoon.  

Thanks for your support and please keep Mom in your thoughts and prayers. 

"These boots were made for walking..."

Mom is having a great start to her day here at MRH.  She got a good report from Dr. McCoy this morning.  All her blood levels look better and he wants her up and moving as much as possible.  We have followed doctor's orders so far and Mom enjoyed a Carol Lee Doughnut for breakfast and walked the hallway from one end to the other.  All the nurses were giving Mom lots of encouragment as she was walking which was awesome to see.  She did really well on her walk and it is the most she has walked in about a week.  I am so proud of her! Go Mom! :) 

Dr. Chandra (the infectious diesease doctor from Roanoke) has started Mom on a different antibodic and her nurse just started that through her IV.  It should take about 30 minutes to run through.  We all hope that this antibodic makes Mom feel even better.  She has said several times that she feels much better than yesterday morning.  The last unit of blood yesterday helped boost Mom back up as well.  

Mom is resting now and getting ready to enjoy a Wendy's cheeseburger for lunch (thanks Kay!:))  We plan on walking more this afternoon and eating lots of snacks! :)  Updates to come! 

"Feeling Pretty Crappy"

Mom is not feeling well today. She has been running a pretty high fever, as high as 104 at times, and as she puts it "feels pretty crappy". She has not been able to eat anything due to nausea, and still has little energy. She's getting 2 more units of blood today, and is receiving anti-biotics through her i.v. now. An infectious disease specialist is coming up from Roanoke to treat her. It was this physician who changed her anti-biotics in February during her ICU stay - a major factor in her turnaround. At this point, it appears that she is fighting some kind of infection.

Keep her in your thoughts. She is very sleepy from the anti-nausea medicine, and will be sleeping most of the afternoon.

She is not leaving the hospital today, and they will not even entertain the thought of letting her leave until she breaks her fever.

Beth Back in MRH

Mom has been admitted back to Montgomery Regional Hospital. The latest round of chemo hammered her pretty hard, and she was sick to her stomach for several days last week. Because she could not keep anything down, she became very dehydrated and weak. She was admitted yesterday, and will be in the hospital until either late today or tomorrow.

Her treatments are to get fluids and red blood cells, both of which should give her more strength. Her white count looks good, and other than a slight fever last night she is doing ok. Her physicians are monitoring a small blood clot in her leg, and she is receiving anti-biotics (which she was on before going back to the hospital). She also has some pain in her abdomen, either due to her recovering wound or from getting sick to her stomach (or a combination thereof).

Her spirits are good, and they are managing her symptoms well. More updates later.

Zapped!

I had my 2nd round of chemo on Friday and I don't know if it's psychological, physical or emotional, but this one has just zapped me. I've been nauseous this round and have no energy -- and I'm just on Day 5. Dr. McCoy has put me on antibiotics to hopefully prevent anything new (abscess) from occurring, so please keep those thoughts and prayers coming my way.

I am scheduled to have another CT scan done of my chest, abdomen and pelvis on July 1st, so that should tell us if the cancer is gone, or I'll have to endure another 2 rounds of chemo. I am so worn out right now that I honestly feel I need a break, but the sooner the cancer is gone, the sooner I can begin to heal and get back to a normal life. I haven't said it recently but CANCER SUCKS!

My brother, Howard, and our cousin Randy Harrison have coordinated a Green Family Reunion (Mother's family), for the weekend of the 27th in Danville, VA and I'm so looking forward to going to that. It was something Mother wished would happen for a long time, and I'm proud of Howard, Randy and our cousin Jackie for taking the lead and planning this. David, Trisha and Heather are coming so you know I'll be laughing a lot with them. They've even scheduled a photographer to come to the family home (now where our Auntie Gayle lives), and take a picture.

Heather has 1 1/2 more days left in this school year and says she thinks she's just as excited for school to end as are the children. She called me one day last week and asked me to speak to her class via speaker phone to behave. It was so funny as she was telling children to sit down and be quiet during the conversation.

David and Trisha are house-bidding, which is so exciting. Trisha is actually going to work this summer in David's lab so that will be fun. She finishes her school year this week, too, but didn't have to call her "favorite mother-in-law" on her high school sophomores yet. But that 4th period class of hers...!

More next week! Thanks to all who have commented on the blog, as well as to the wonderful VT employees who have again donated time to me so I can continue to get paid while I am out. I am so humbled.

Lost it again!

Unfortunately, I was in such pain and the wind was blowing so hard that I had to miss Relay for Life. I really regretted it as I wanted to be there to support my co-workers but I knew I wouldn't be able to walk the Survivor Walk and didn't want to stay out in the wind. I have to do everything I can to stay as healthly as possible before I have chemo again on Friday.

I got up Saturday morning to find grey hair all over my sheets and quickly realized I was loosing my hair again! I just bust out laughing because I just had it trimmed last week so I could go out without a hat or my wig. My oncologist nurse had told me that I might not loose it because they were using the same chemo, which they weren't sure would work. But I'm trying to believe that if the chemo can kill my hair follacles, it is hopefully killing the cancer, too!!

Heather came in for the weekend to "look at me," and that was so special. She's a wonderful daughter. We did a couple of errands and she brought me dinner Saturday night. She'll be home for the summer in a couple of weeks and I sure will love seeing her regularly.

My co-workers brought dinner over tonight and will bring another meal over tomorrow night. I sure do appreciate it as I've lost another 6 pounds and am now down to 125. Daddy and I went to Cracker Barrel last night and I got a vegetable plate. I only ate half of it, but that corn and green beans were sure good!

I'll try to update the blog again after chemo. Keep those thoughts and prayers coming, please!