Hello All... well it's another day in paradise here. Anne's causing drama either intentionally, inadvertently, or accidentally but there's drama anyway. Long inner family drama so no need to go into it here but alas it is there anyways and is making me cranky!
So it's been awhile since I've posted here. The latest info is as follows. Mom is still in hospital, she's upset, scared, and exhausted. Yesterday they ran a battery of tests on her all day. She couldn't eat from midnight Sunday until around 7 pm on Monday so she was starving, going through nicotine and smoking withdrawals and generally depressed all at the same time. As I said before (I'm probably rambling now because my brain is fried out) the doctors did a whole bunch of tests yesterday, they did a second batch of CT Scans, a biopsy of the lung tumor, an MRI on the brain, a bone scan to look for any cancer in the bones, and a barium (I think that's what it's called, its the yucky chalk like stuff that lets them look at your intestines and lower parts of your stomach area) CT scan.
We have to wait until Tomorrow or most probably Thursday for the results of the biopsy. There could be no cancer (fat chance in h. e. double hockey sticks, but hey it's worth a prayer right?) or there are two types of lung cancer, or who knows it could be some other type of cancer (not likely either but I feel like typing so I'm typing!) There are small cell and non small cell lung cancers. The small cell cancer is the scary fast one that's hard to treat and doesn't respond well so were hoping against that. The non small cell cancer is more treatable. The saying I'm going with is that the cancer is treatable at this point but no curable.
The CT scan of the brain showed nine small tumors in the brain. The neurosurgeon said that it would be to risky to go in and cut them all out. The best treatment is to go in with radiation and possibly some sort of pill thing and treat it that way. Overall neutral news in my opinion.
The bone scan was good news news. The Dr. said there was two unusual spots on her ribs but that they didn't look how they should for spreading cancer. He asked about any injuries to the ribs. My mom said none at first but then I piped up and said that she was in a motorcycle accident when she was young and that got her to thinking about how much they hurt when she was coughing up her lungs over the last few months which got her remembering that she thought she tore them or hurt them. Doctor said that that sounded right and that the heat (?) the bone was putting out seemed right for an injury to them in that time frame. So that was really good news because if it was in the bones it would be bad.
The barium test (that's what I'm calling it if it's wrong then comment with the right name but until then it stays!) had her drink yucky drinks two hours apart. She had first drink at 3:00, second one at 4:00 and they were supposed to come get her at 5:00. Well 5:10 then 5:15 come by and I'm getting nervous because I'm thinking this stuff is going to wear off. I go out and ask for her nurse at 5:30, she calls down and theres an ER patient with an Emergency who needs the machine. So we wait until 6:30 before they take her down. The dinner service ends at 6:30, I had ordered her dinner but they said they couldn't release it until the nurse took off the no food notes in her account. So i go and try to find her food near the hospital. She wanted scrambled eggs with bacon. Easy you would think but I could find no open diners near the stupid hospital! I Finlay found a Togo's and figured should would eat a sandwich. I get it, go back to the hospital and up to her room. She's not back yet but on her table is her dinner tray that wasn't supposed to come.... UGH! She came back, ate, and all was good.
Well my arm hurts from typing at this weird angle on my laptop so I'm done for tonight. You all are updated on the latest, I'm tired and have to go to work tomorrow. Yuck! Have a good night all!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Another Day in Paradise
Hello All... well it's another day in paradise here. Anne's causing drama either intentionally, inadvertently, or accidentally but there's drama anyway. Long inner family drama so no need to go into it here but alas it is there anyways and is making me cranky!
So it's been awhile since I've posted here. The latest info is as follows. Mom is still in hospital, she's upset, scared, and exhausted. Yesterday they ran a battery of tests on her all day. She couldn't eat from midnight Sunday until around 7 pm on Monday so she was starving, going through nicotine and smoking withdrawals and generally depressed all at the same time. As I said before (I'm probably rambling now because my brain is fried out) the doctors did a whole bunch of tests yesterday, they did a second batch of CT Scans, a biopsy of the lung tumor, an MRI on the brain, a bone scan to look for any cancer in the bones, and a barium (I think that's what it's called, its the yucky chalk like stuff that lets them look at your intestines and lower parts of your stomach area) CT scan.
We have to wait until Tomorrow or most probably Thursday for the results of the biopsy. There could be no cancer (fat chance in h. e. double hockey sticks, but hey it's worth a prayer right?) or there are two types of lung cancer, or who knows it could be some other type of cancer (not likely either but I feel like typing so I'm typing!) There are small cell and non small cell lung cancers. The small cell cancer is the scary fast one that's hard to treat and doesn't respond well so were hoping against that. The non small cell cancer is more treatable. The saying I'm going with is that the cancer is treatable at this point but no curable.
The CT scan of the brain showed nine small tumors in the brain. The neurosurgeon said that it would be to risky to go in and cut them all out. The best treatment is to go in with radiation and possibly some sort of pill thing and treat it that way. Overall neutral news in my opinion.
The bone scan was good news news. The Dr. said there was two unusual spots on her ribs but that they didn't look how they should for spreading cancer. He asked about any injuries to the ribs. My mom said none at first but then I piped up and said that she was in a motorcycle accident when she was young and that got her to thinking about how much they hurt when she was coughing up her lungs over the last few months which got her remembering that she thought she tore them or hurt them. Doctor said that that sounded right and that the heat (?) the bone was putting out seemed right for an injury to them in that time frame. So that was really good news because if it was in the bones it would be bad.
The barium test (that's what I'm calling it if it's wrong then comment with the right name but until then it stays!) had her drink yucky drinks two hours apart. She had first drink at 3:00, second one at 4:00 and they were supposed to come get her at 5:00. Well 5:10 then 5:15 come by and I'm getting nervous because I'm thinking this stuff is going to wear off. I go out and ask for her nurse at 5:30, she calls down and theres an ER patient with an Emergency who needs the machine. So we wait until 6:30 before they take her down. The dinner service ends at 6:30, I had ordered her dinner but they said they couldn't release it until the nurse took off the no food notes in her account. So i go and try to find her food near the hospital. She wanted scrambled eggs with bacon. Easy you would think but I could find no open diners near the stupid hospital! I Finlay found a Togo's and figured should would eat a sandwich. I get it, go back to the hospital and up to her room. She's not back yet but on her table is her dinner tray that wasn't supposed to come.... UGH! She came back, ate, and all was good.
Well my arm hurts from typing at this weird angle on my laptop so I'm done for tonight. You all are updated on the latest, I'm tired and have to go to work tomorrow. Yuck! Have a good night all!
So it's been awhile since I've posted here. The latest info is as follows. Mom is still in hospital, she's upset, scared, and exhausted. Yesterday they ran a battery of tests on her all day. She couldn't eat from midnight Sunday until around 7 pm on Monday so she was starving, going through nicotine and smoking withdrawals and generally depressed all at the same time. As I said before (I'm probably rambling now because my brain is fried out) the doctors did a whole bunch of tests yesterday, they did a second batch of CT Scans, a biopsy of the lung tumor, an MRI on the brain, a bone scan to look for any cancer in the bones, and a barium (I think that's what it's called, its the yucky chalk like stuff that lets them look at your intestines and lower parts of your stomach area) CT scan.
We have to wait until Tomorrow or most probably Thursday for the results of the biopsy. There could be no cancer (fat chance in h. e. double hockey sticks, but hey it's worth a prayer right?) or there are two types of lung cancer, or who knows it could be some other type of cancer (not likely either but I feel like typing so I'm typing!) There are small cell and non small cell lung cancers. The small cell cancer is the scary fast one that's hard to treat and doesn't respond well so were hoping against that. The non small cell cancer is more treatable. The saying I'm going with is that the cancer is treatable at this point but no curable.
The CT scan of the brain showed nine small tumors in the brain. The neurosurgeon said that it would be to risky to go in and cut them all out. The best treatment is to go in with radiation and possibly some sort of pill thing and treat it that way. Overall neutral news in my opinion.
The bone scan was good news news. The Dr. said there was two unusual spots on her ribs but that they didn't look how they should for spreading cancer. He asked about any injuries to the ribs. My mom said none at first but then I piped up and said that she was in a motorcycle accident when she was young and that got her to thinking about how much they hurt when she was coughing up her lungs over the last few months which got her remembering that she thought she tore them or hurt them. Doctor said that that sounded right and that the heat (?) the bone was putting out seemed right for an injury to them in that time frame. So that was really good news because if it was in the bones it would be bad.
The barium test (that's what I'm calling it if it's wrong then comment with the right name but until then it stays!) had her drink yucky drinks two hours apart. She had first drink at 3:00, second one at 4:00 and they were supposed to come get her at 5:00. Well 5:10 then 5:15 come by and I'm getting nervous because I'm thinking this stuff is going to wear off. I go out and ask for her nurse at 5:30, she calls down and theres an ER patient with an Emergency who needs the machine. So we wait until 6:30 before they take her down. The dinner service ends at 6:30, I had ordered her dinner but they said they couldn't release it until the nurse took off the no food notes in her account. So i go and try to find her food near the hospital. She wanted scrambled eggs with bacon. Easy you would think but I could find no open diners near the stupid hospital! I Finlay found a Togo's and figured should would eat a sandwich. I get it, go back to the hospital and up to her room. She's not back yet but on her table is her dinner tray that wasn't supposed to come.... UGH! She came back, ate, and all was good.
Well my arm hurts from typing at this weird angle on my laptop so I'm done for tonight. You all are updated on the latest, I'm tired and have to go to work tomorrow. Yuck! Have a good night all!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday Morning
So it's monday morning. For some reason I keep thinking it is Tuesday... Hmmmm. So last night I brought some stuff over here to the hospital, the important stuff like night gowns, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and hair ties. Anne was here when I got here and Tom and Mary arrived not long afterwards. Anne hung around for awhile being noisy (she cant control that especially when she is nervous, worried of off kilter like she is with all this) but not causing drama thankfully (she had apparently tried to cause drama when she came earlier in the day). Tom, Mary, Mom, and I sat around for three hours yacking about my Dad, Anne, and general stuff. It was nice, just wished the setting could have been around my grandparents fireplace instead of a hospital bed.
<NEWSBREAK> so i'm sitting here writing this update and I hear singing coming down the hall. Walking up to us comes a whole bunch of people (hospital workers like doctors and admins and stuff?) singing Christmas carols. It was really nice, brought a smile to my face but made my mom think we wouldn't have all our normal Christmas cookies and stuff this year. I guess i'm gonna have to go find some good store bought substitutes! <NEWSBREAK>
Okay, back to normal writing... so i'm here and we're waiting for lots of tests to be done. They did an MRI this morning before I got here. The next guy up is a bone scan to see if there is any cancer in the bones. They are also going to be doing a biopsy of the lung and I think they might do another round of CT scans. So a little bit after I got here the Tech (from I don't remember the department name but the department that does the the radiation and bone scans) came in and injected my mom with the stuff that makes them see the bones. He pulled out four huge syringes and said not to worry because they were only filled with saline to flush all the lines out. The final little tiny (okay not so tiny but way smaller than the saline syringes) was the stuff that irradiates her. He warned that she would be radioactive and that no kids or women who could be pregnant should see her. So now we have to wait two hours (noon or 1ish for anyone who cares) for the tech to come back up and get her to take her down to do the actual bone scan. The tech said he would try to see if the biopsy team could do the biopsy at the same time he had her down for the scan... we will see.
Well Janie and Rosa just got here and my Grandma is supposed to be coming down soon so i'm gonna wrap this up for now. Final note is I gave my Kindle to my mom to play with, she liked it but it kept putting her to sleep as she read, alas.
<NEWSBREAK> so i'm sitting here writing this update and I hear singing coming down the hall. Walking up to us comes a whole bunch of people (hospital workers like doctors and admins and stuff?) singing Christmas carols. It was really nice, brought a smile to my face but made my mom think we wouldn't have all our normal Christmas cookies and stuff this year. I guess i'm gonna have to go find some good store bought substitutes! <NEWSBREAK>
Okay, back to normal writing... so i'm here and we're waiting for lots of tests to be done. They did an MRI this morning before I got here. The next guy up is a bone scan to see if there is any cancer in the bones. They are also going to be doing a biopsy of the lung and I think they might do another round of CT scans. So a little bit after I got here the Tech (from I don't remember the department name but the department that does the the radiation and bone scans) came in and injected my mom with the stuff that makes them see the bones. He pulled out four huge syringes and said not to worry because they were only filled with saline to flush all the lines out. The final little tiny (okay not so tiny but way smaller than the saline syringes) was the stuff that irradiates her. He warned that she would be radioactive and that no kids or women who could be pregnant should see her. So now we have to wait two hours (noon or 1ish for anyone who cares) for the tech to come back up and get her to take her down to do the actual bone scan. The tech said he would try to see if the biopsy team could do the biopsy at the same time he had her down for the scan... we will see.
Well Janie and Rosa just got here and my Grandma is supposed to be coming down soon so i'm gonna wrap this up for now. Final note is I gave my Kindle to my mom to play with, she liked it but it kept putting her to sleep as she read, alas.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The Why...
So i've wrote the details of what is going on in brief and not so brief details. I'm tired having only 2 hours of sleep last night so hopefully I'm not just going on and on and on and on and on and... sorry. This last post in the postathon is the why i'm posting this blog in the first place.
I think there are two main reasons. First. It's an easy and quick way to keep everyone up to date on whats going on. Second. I hope it's a good way for me to release some of the bent up frustration and I don't know what else that I tend to keep bottled up inside of me. Finally. Our church is big on journaling. I hate it, I try and try but I don't do it. Maybe this can be a type of 21st century journal for this trying time? Maybe someone now or in the future can find hope, information, or insight from it? Who know?
I think there are two main reasons. First. It's an easy and quick way to keep everyone up to date on whats going on. Second. I hope it's a good way for me to release some of the bent up frustration and I don't know what else that I tend to keep bottled up inside of me. Finally. Our church is big on journaling. I hate it, I try and try but I don't do it. Maybe this can be a type of 21st century journal for this trying time? Maybe someone now or in the future can find hope, information, or insight from it? Who know?
The Next Day
So were caught up with last nights details. I went and visited with her this morning and my Grandparents got there not long after I was there. No real news until this afternoon but unfortunately i'm not 100% sure of all the details so they will have to wait until later on tonight. Short and simple two promising glimpses,
- The oncologist said that there was hope and not to give up, they are going to be fighting it aggressively i just need to confirm the details over a non breaking up cell phone connection before I post it here.
- When the oncologist came in he talked about her smoking and she told him that she was now a non smoker. This may seem small but it's a big deal for her to admit it and step up like that.
Will post more tonight or tomorrow, maybe for details about all the other drama going on around here as well... we will see...
The only thing I can think to say is to keep her / us in your prayers. And that you to all of our family members who have stepped up and to our friends from church as well. I love you all so much!
A long night...
My mom has been fighting a nasty bronchitis / pneumonia / God only knows what for the past while. We started off by going to Good Sam ER about three months ago because she had a nasty cough that she couldn't shake no matter what. They said it was probably pneumonia and bronchitis and gave her an inhaler, antibiotics, and a stimulant to try to get her lungs working right. It didn't do very much. Since my mom does not have any insurance and it cost a boat load for the prescriptions let alone the hospital bills I talked her into going into valley med urgent care. Well long story short three trips there over the next month or two and they did the same thing new antibiotics, new inhaler, blah blah blah. Well finally the last visit we finally convinced them to do an X-Ray. They did and said they would call if it showed anything abnormal. On this last visit though my mom also complained about weakness in her right arm and hand, she couldn't grasp or hold stuff very well. They said it was probably from coughing so much and it should go away.
We fast forward to last night. She still was not feeling any better and her weakness was acting up really bad (though it had come and gone since the last Dr. visit) so we figured it was getting better?) I got home from work at about 1015 pm. and she did not look very good, had been coughing all night and could barely put her clothes on or get up out of bed. I had had enough and told her to get up and get dressed that we were going to the ER.
We get there and the doctors and all are really nice, hardly a wait to get back to a room. The ER Doc orders a CT scan and a whole lot of blood work to be done, he did not like that valley med had not done very much with the loss of strength and did not buy the coughing diagnosis. So a long uncomfortable night goes on, they take lots and lots of blood then they take her back for the CT scan, give her a breathing treatment and some medicine.
So along comes 3 or so in the morning and the Doc comes in (his name was Todd if anyone cares) and asks how her had was feeling? It was actually feeling a bit better and had some more strength. He said in his cocky ER doctor voice which I loved and hated at the same time that wasn't that strange since they hadn't really done anything... then he drops the bomb shell of the night. He said that the CT scan showed a mass two inches in size in her lung and masses in her brain. My heart sank, I really did not want to loose my mom after loosing my dad not to long ago. I figured in my cocky I know everything mind that lung cancer that has spread is all but a death sentence. The Doc said he had to admit her and that the oncologist would consult over the next few days. Another hour and a half passes and they get her a room, I'm upset trying to be strong and not freak out to much (I lost it a couple of times when she went to use the bathroom though). They brought her up to her room and then we waited...
I'm writing this Sunday afternoon, more on why i'm writing about this later and more details to come soon but all hope is not lost. Keep us in your prayers, and with Heavenly Fathers help who know what might happen. The one thing I do know is that I hope with all my might she does not suffer a slow agonizing death...
We fast forward to last night. She still was not feeling any better and her weakness was acting up really bad (though it had come and gone since the last Dr. visit) so we figured it was getting better?) I got home from work at about 1015 pm. and she did not look very good, had been coughing all night and could barely put her clothes on or get up out of bed. I had had enough and told her to get up and get dressed that we were going to the ER.
We get there and the doctors and all are really nice, hardly a wait to get back to a room. The ER Doc orders a CT scan and a whole lot of blood work to be done, he did not like that valley med had not done very much with the loss of strength and did not buy the coughing diagnosis. So a long uncomfortable night goes on, they take lots and lots of blood then they take her back for the CT scan, give her a breathing treatment and some medicine.
So along comes 3 or so in the morning and the Doc comes in (his name was Todd if anyone cares) and asks how her had was feeling? It was actually feeling a bit better and had some more strength. He said in his cocky ER doctor voice which I loved and hated at the same time that wasn't that strange since they hadn't really done anything... then he drops the bomb shell of the night. He said that the CT scan showed a mass two inches in size in her lung and masses in her brain. My heart sank, I really did not want to loose my mom after loosing my dad not to long ago. I figured in my cocky I know everything mind that lung cancer that has spread is all but a death sentence. The Doc said he had to admit her and that the oncologist would consult over the next few days. Another hour and a half passes and they get her a room, I'm upset trying to be strong and not freak out to much (I lost it a couple of times when she went to use the bathroom though). They brought her up to her room and then we waited...
I'm writing this Sunday afternoon, more on why i'm writing about this later and more details to come soon but all hope is not lost. Keep us in your prayers, and with Heavenly Fathers help who know what might happen. The one thing I do know is that I hope with all my might she does not suffer a slow agonizing death...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)