Weekend Visit

Last weekend mom was able to come to Oklahoma City for a weekend visit. This is actually the first time she has been able to drive herself and stay a couple nights this summer. This has been a drastic change from the last couple summers. Not that she has not been capable of driving, but since she is doing treatment every other week, has doctor's appointments, ect., there just have not been many opportunities. This was the first weekend since mom has started treatment that I was able to see a real difference in her overall health. She seemed more tired than usual and she had a hard time walking longer distances. (The walking is due to the white blood cell shots she gets the day after each treatment). She is having some pain in her throat (due to tissue change - a side effect of the chemo) and has some mild trouble eating. We did get the chance to take Addison to see her first movie (Toy Story 3) and I know that mom really enjoyed doing this.

Tomorrow she will start her new type of medication. Of course, we all hope that she does as well with this round of medication as she did with the last. She will say that even if she does not do well, she will be grateful that the negative symptoms indicate the medication is working. She always says she would trade several weeks of being ill if it meant that she was able to get past the cancer. This round of medication will take longer to administer. The "red medicine" took about 2 hours, and this will take about 4. Her doctor told her they would do an even slower administration tomorrow to monitor how her body reacts to the new medicine. She will be at the treatment center tomorrow at 7:15am, will have blood drawn and wait for results, then a few hours after arrival will start the chemo drip. I will update tomorrow evening on how she is doing.

Mom's incision from her port has completely healed and she is cleared to go swimming this weekend. We will all be in Tulsa and she is looking forward to her first opportunity to get in the pool this summer!