Friday, October 30, 2009

Today Mom was feeling good, had a good night sleep last night & was all smiles when the girls & I got to their house this morning.  We arrived a bit early after running a few errands, so we thought we'd sit with her & Dad & visit.

Around 11am, we (Mom, Dad, Me, Ry, Nyomi, Uncle Glenn & Auntie Momi) headed to Group Health for her appointment at 11:50am.  Mom lost 6lbs since her last weigh in at the radiologist office & her blood pressure was low.  It's typically low anyway, but today was lower than usual.  They asked if she was feeling ok & if she was dizzy & she was not.  When her oncologist came in, she asked how Mom was feeling, if she was in any pain & checked her lungs.  Mom has been walking with a cane lately because she feels unsteady on her left foot.  When Mom was given chemotherapy (prior to the radiation) one of the side effects was to lose feeling in her nerve endings (fingers, hands & feet).  She did experience the tingling in her hands & feet & while her right side came back to normal, her left side did not.  She experiences needle-like feeling (similar to when your hand/foot falls asleep) in her left hand & her left foot.  And the numbness in the foot makes her uncomfortable, so she now uses a cane to feel more balanced.  Dr. Reddy said that this will probably never go back to normal, which was a bit unsettling.  I asked about this cut that was on Mom's tongue since last week (it appeared to look like a cold sore, but didn't go away) & she said that it looks like thrush & gave Mom a prescription for more pills to get rid of that.  Dr. Reddy showed us the scans from Mom's lungs after the chemo treatments & she said that the chemo didn't do much.  I didn't see a side by side comparison from the before chemo & after, so i can't tell whether it worked even a little bit.  When the appointment was over, we told Dr. Reddy that we were going to go to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance & that we'd switched insurance.  She wished us well & asked to be kept informed.  She hugged Mom & Mom thanked her for everything that she's done.

This evening, Dad called to tell me that Mom mentioned that her throat has been sore lately (a side effect of the radiation) & for me, that says a lot, because she's only been eating soups, poi & poke.  I'm hoping that when her throat feels better, she can eat more things with more substance to make her gain more weight.

I see her almost everyday & I see that her spirit is still good, but I also see that sometimes little things that used to come so easy...no longer does & she gets frustrated.  I hope that after the effects of the radiation wear off that she will feel better & eat more & gain lotsa weight.

Thanks for the love that you all give her everyday....it means the world.