(Scott writing)
The old saying is No News is Good News, right? Well, we have not updated this blog since the first week of June and for the most part, that really is Good News.
As summer came to a close this week, we have so much to be thankful for. After mom's hospital stay in May and June, getting home, healing and generally trying to get back to herself, the overall news on Mary's Cancer Blog is good. Here's an update...
The visiting nurses continued to check up on Mom for a few weeks. During that time she and dad figured out her pill schedule (with the help of a pill spreadsheet I and my sister created for them), and mom's health kept improving. I was able to be there the weekend that the occupational therapist, an old high school classmate of mine (surprise) stopped by. At that time she literally told my mom that she didn't need her based on mom's condition. And then the Visiting nurses came to the same conclusion.
Because of the heart scare at the hospital post-surgery, mom's doctor team has kept her on a blood thinner course of therapy which requires a weekly visit to the hospital for blood work. In August these visits began showing extreme elevation in mom's potassium levels, necessitating visits to the hospital for overnight stays, tests and observations. After her second trip to the hospital in two weeks, I took a look at her drug chart. The doctors had her on two medications that specifically add potassium (literally potassium chloride) and keep potassium in the body. A "DUH" realization came over us and after checking with the doctors, they approved stopping those medications and mom's levels have remained normal. It is FLABERGASTING to me that it took ME reviewing mom's medicine chart to come to a conclusion that two hospital stays did not.
[Side note on my own drug adventure: I had to personally research over 50 medications for Rosacea after the prescription face wash I've been using for more than 12 years suddenly jumped to $400 a bottle and my insurance stopped covering it. The old retail price was around $80. It fell on ME to look up the medications used to treat Rosacea and cross check each one with the Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Michigan medication charts to find the ONE - ONLY ONE - script that is covered, then ask my dermatologist to write a script for that .]
During the course of the summer, Mom was supposed to have her first PET scan after surgery, but her sugar levels were off and she needed to gain more weight. An assesement of her diabetes medication and tests showed that she didn't need the insulin they were giving her. Another medication off the chart.
Then, the Dentist (the one I would punch if I saw him in person) FINALLY got around to fixing her dentures. For the past several weeks, Mom has been able to wear her dentures more and more and eat more and more regularly, bigger and bigger meals.
Amy, her boyfriend Brad and I visited Butler in August and helped Dad tear out their old bathtub and install a walk-in shower. Something mom has wanted for years. During that visit we really got to see that Mom is getting back to a bit of "normalcy." She and dad did some work before we got there - they've done work after we left. We even went to the Wild Animal Park north of Butler on the day I had to return to Detroit and walked the whole park looking at the animals.
Then she was able to go in for her first post-surgery PET scan last week.
The results showed no change in the cancer throughout her abdomen and a shrinkage of a small tumor that is on her hip. THIS IS GREAT NEWS. It means that for now they are continuing the hormonal therapy she has been doing since the surgery and that she will not need a new round of Chemo for now.
Mom was even feeling well enough for her and dad to go out to eat and then enjoy a performance of Jersey Boys last week at the Benedum.
So please offer up a prayer of Thanksgiving, continue to lift Mom and our family up in supportive prayers and thoughts, and stay on top of your medications... you can't assume your doctor or team of doctors is actually doing that.
