I Need Your Prayers and Good Thoughts (Sad Update #206)

Myself | 5-08-2013 | Myself

[Joe 6-pack]

Prayers for you and your mom!

[Nowhere Man]

Well, quick update. Mom will get a visiting nurse every week to inspect the picks plus she will teach us how to flush them everyday. She has to go back to the doctors for a shot as well as weekly bloodwork but she does not feel any pain right now(she has inflammatory breast cancer). Since the chemo yesterday, she feels like a million bucks and is eating a lot.

[Alamo-Girl]

Praise God!!! Thank you for the update. Prayers continue...

[Tired of Taxes]

The fact that she has an appetite and is eating is great news!

Don’t worry too much about what happened to the port. I had to have my port removed, too, after the very first chemo treatment because the port caused a massive infection, and it put me in the hospital for a week. After they removed the port, they placed a picc line in my arm, too, and I found that I preferred the picc line over the port. Flushing the picc line became second nature after a while.

Saying another prayer for your mom and you...

[Nowhere Man]

Thanks. My Mom thinks she might just keep the picc line although the nurse will show us how to flush it tomorrow. The nurse had an emergency so she could not make it today so we had it flushed at the doctors since Mom needed a follow up injection and bloodwork.

[Nowhere Man]

Well some updates, two weeks ago, Mom fell on the carpeted floor on her breast and belly while getting into the house so we had to get her checked out, the doctor said no problems so that is OK. She has a picc in her arm so I have to help flush it out everyday although the nurse comes weekly to change the dressing. We go to the breast surgeon tomorrow to have her non-functioning port checked out and we will go from there if she will get a new one or just keep using the piccs. She goes for her third (actually second, the 2nd oncologist changed her regimen to a strong one) chemo on Monday. She says sometimes she thinks her breast (she has inflammatory breast cancer) might have shrunk a little, we are not sure yet but I hope it did. One thing I like about the home nurse is that she can have her blood drawn at home through the piccs. She's even helping me cook a little too, I'm not too good at that although I can grill.

Last week, we got a new 32 inch flat screen TV. I did not know about it until the UPS man came. My aunt, her sister bought it for her. We were using the same TV since 1983 and it was doing fine but it was a nice gift for Mom.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for keeping us informed! Prayers continue...

[Tired of Taxes]

Just today on another website, I saw a post written by a woman diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer back in 1997. That was 16 years ago, and she has been doing fine since then. I immediately thought of your mother; I hope and pray she’s still doing well.

[Nowhere Man]

Just today on another website, I saw a post written by a woman diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer back in 1997. That was 16 years ago, and she has been doing fine since then. I immediately thought of your mother; I hope and pray she’s still doing well.

Interesting. Mom is at Stage III, it is so far in her left breast and there is a spot on her left lung they are monitoring too. I'd like to see the link if you have one.

She had her 3rd chemo with 2 more to go and after that, she should get 4 more with another drug. She might be on chemo through Christmas. At her oncologist, we talked to another patient who has breast cancer, Stage IV, for 10 years and she's been on chemo steady for the last 5 years. She has issues but she is doing quite well managing her cancer. I know in Mom's case, she will need surgery for her breast and maybe that spot but they want to give the chemo a chance to work to shrink it first to make any operation easier plus they want to "sterilize," meaning to kill any cancer floating around her body before it spreads elsewhere.

[EDINVA]

Prayers for your mom and you. Medical advances have offered women afflicted with breast cancer so many options, I pray her docs find the right one, or combo, for your mom.

[Alamo-Girl]

The strategy makes sense. Thank you for keeping us informed. Prayers continue...

[Tired of Taxes]

Hi again. Please check your FReepmail for my response including the link, which I just sent to you now.

[Nowhere Man]

Just a quick update. Mom goes to her third chemo (actually fourth but third in this current regimen) on Monday. Dunno if I see any shrinkage but then again hopefully the chemo has killed some or most of the tumor as well as “sterilizing” the rest of her body. She’s tired a lot though and I have to take her temperature daily. She does have a slight fever, around 100.0, the doctors say give them a call if it gets 101.0 or more so I’m keeping an eye on that. She was on anti-biotics most of the time during this crisis but off them now, she might have to go back on them again to control any opportunistic infections. I know this is common in people going through chemo but yes, I’m concerned as always.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for keeping us informed and more importantly, keeping watch on your mom. Prayers continue...

[Tired of Taxes]

The chemo must be doing something, even if it’s not evident yet. I used to sit next to and talk with another patient, and at first, she said her 4 cm. tumor seemed to be shrinking very slowly - hardly shrinking at all. But, toward the end of all of her treatments, the tumor was gone. She went through 16 treatments, though, as did I. It’s true that inflammatory BC is a bit trickier to treat, but keep hope alive and stay as strong as you are. You are a wonderful son to your mother.

Prayers continue...

[Nowhere Man]

I try to do the best I can, so far this morning her temp dropped to 99.0. Before zonking off to sleep, I did say a prayer for her complete recovery and to make her temp go down. I’ll check it again tonite. We have A/C but the house is like a heat sponge and the A/C has trouble keeping up in the heat so in the day, we climb to 79 degrees plus Mom’s CPAP machine gives off a lot of heat. I wonder if that has to do with it too? Then again, I took my temp and I’m like 97.2 or 98.0 and so on, I often joke “I’m part reptile.” B-)

[workerbee]

Prayers for you and your mom, NM.

[Nowhere Man]

Thanks

[Nowhere Man]

Some updates. The oncologist said the chemo took some of the redness out of the left breast but it hasn't shrunk too much. He had my mother go to her breast doctor and they decided to have a mastectomy on the left breast. She goes in Monday to have it done and then she will be in hospital for a few days. I admit I'm a bit aloof but my mother is taking it well and she is looking forward to getting it off her chest, both in real life and figuratively. Well, I have decided to place my faith in God and His guidance to her surgeon that they will remove most of it. After that, there is talk of more chemo and radiation.

BTW, my father is going to the same hospital as my mother for an operation, he needs to get his gallbladder out so I'll have both parents in hospital but in his case, he hopes it is an outpatient case.

[onyx]

I’m glad I spotted your update..
You Mom and your Dad have my prayers.
You do too, as well.