Where the deer and the antelope play.....

Ok, so maybe there aren't any antelope, and it might not be on a range.. but I have seen deer prancing about and more importantly ... It's HOME! And that is where Mom is!

Yep, Mom's home! She will have to go back to the hospital daily for a few days, but she gets to come home and rest in her recliner and sleep in her bed. She is a little weak and her mouth still burns a bit, but she says she's feeling pretty good!

More later... It's a busy day for me, but I wanted to let you know that Mom is home!

Chemo is still bad, but white blood cells are better...

Mom has been having a bit of a hard time with the chemo this go around. They gave her a huge dose, larger than the last time, so it is not uncommon to see some effects we didn't see before. Her main complication this time is stomatitis.

Here's the scoop. Cancer is a rapidly multiplying cell and the chemo is designed to kill cancer. Unfortunately is can't differentiate between bad rapidly multiplying cells such as cancer, and good rapidly multiplying cells, such as the lining of your mouth and digestive tract. So while the chemo is doing it's job on the nasty myeloma cells, mom's mouth lining is making the ultimate sacrifice. And this is called stomatitis. And mom has it bad. Grade 3.

To make it bearable she has been on a morphine drip IV. And that is helping. In fact, it's helping her escape her room. Apparently she has been playing a little golf (she told daddy all she needed was three birdies) Maybe now that she's playing golf in her drug induced dreams, she will take up golf with daddy when she is healthy again. How fun will that be!

The morphine has a few side effects of it's own.. besides the whole golf thing, that is. She is retaining some fluid and that in turn has caused some breathing issues, so she has been on oxygen. Her blood pressure has been a little on the low side as well.

BUT, as bad as all that sounds.. here is the good news. These are only problems till the heroic white blood cells return. The chemo killed them off, and while those white blood cells are gone, all hell breaks loose. But once the white blood cells come back, everything will return to order once again... and guess what..... THEY'RE BACK!

Mom's white count went from readings like .1 and .2 in the past couple of days to 2.9 today! So, we expect those white cells to start whomping some stomatitis butt soon, and mom should be feeling much better. In fact, the doctor even insinuated that she would be back in her own bed at her own home in about 48 hours.

You just can't get a much better report than that!

Stem Cells Good - Chemo Bad

While we are thrilled Mom has new healthy stem cells, we hate that she has to deal with the effects of chemotherapy.

The good news is there is no C. Diff. although she is having tummy troubles. They have been watching her closely for this but all tests continue to be negative. For that we are so thankful!

The bad news is Mom has developed a new symptom that she didn't have to deal with the first go around, but we are told it is quite common when recieving stem cells. Her mouth hurts. Bad. So bad, in fact, morphine is only taking the edge off. It hurts to talk, eat or swallow. This is a complication that will go away soon but we want soon to be sooner!

Continue to pray that there will be no C. Diff and that the lining of Mom's mouth and entire digestive track will heal quickly.

Speaking of Birthdays...

I just want to interrupt this blog to wish my Mamo a very happy birthday. My mom's mom, Trellis, is 90 years old today. Since Mom has been ill, Mamo has been traveling. She spent several months with Aunt Brenda in California and is staying with Aunt Joyce in Texas right now.

Mamo, all of us here in Oklahoma wish you a wonderful 90th Birthday! We love you and we miss you.

An Amazing Day

Mom's stem cell transplant went perfectly today. Mom was quite anxious at first because they told her all the list of side effects that could happen. Of course, they didn't, but Mom was understandably worried.

The stem cells came to the room in a large container filled with freezing vapor. They thawed the stem cells, then her nurse, using all the strength she had, pushed the thick stem cells through the IV tube. As they entered Mom's blood stream, the perservative keeping the stem cells fresh, went to her lungs. She had to breath deeply and cough to keep her lungs clear. One interesting side effect from this preservative is a strange taste in Mom's mouth and eventually a smell that fills the room. For some this smells/tastes like Garlic. For some it is creamed corn. One patient described it as an old army boot and another set is tasted like an acetalyne torch. Mom thought it tasted like tomatoes.. probably because she's never munched on an army boot or a torch. Soon the room smelled like tomatoe juice which is not a scent I find particularly pleasurable. There were "Wow, I could have had a V8" jokes flying, but I think after today, it will be a while before Mom actually drinks another V8.

Her stem cells came in 3 bags which took less than a minute each to push through. Besides the tomato taste and an itchy throat, mom had no unpleasant side effects. In fact, she is feeling no effects from her chemo yesterday.

Janice, the transpant coordinator, told us that now Mom has another birthday. And you can be sure we will celebrate every year!

She's had her chemo..

I just spoke with Mom. She had 2 big bags of chemo in about 30 minutes. She said she's feeling a bit light headed but not from the chemo. They have given her pain medicine for some pain associated with her catheter. She told me she had a good lunch and all but licked the plate!

This is such a change from when she went to the hospital in January. Then she was in a wheelchair. This time she walked to the transplant unit on her own.

Tomorrow she will get her stem cells at 1:30. I will be there with my camera so check back tomorrow for pics!

Neither hail nor sleet nor snow....

Ok, it didn't sleet or snow, but it sure did hail. And thunder. And flood. But that didn't stop Mom and Dad. They are at the hospital now and she has her catheter now. You might remember that putting the catheter in is a surgical procedure, although she can have it done in her room. This time did not go quite as smoothly as the last time. It seemed to take quite a long time and Mom felt it a lot more than before.

She is in Room 7128 this time. We knew this room from a couple of outpatient visits and it's uncomfortable bed stood out. Fortunately, they've either gotten a new bed or Mom is not quite as picky as she was when she felt so bad. The official word from Mom is the bed is fine.

She should be getting her chemo soon. The doctor and the pharmacists have a plan to battle the c-difficle before it even starts, but your prayers are still appreciated on this battlefront.

More updates to come!

Small Change and Specific Prayers

Just wanted to post a quick update since Mom's schedule has changed just a bit. Instead of Monday, she will check into the hospital on Tuesday. Everything else will happen just a day later than I originally posted.

Now, if you are wanting to know something you can specifically pray for, here it is. Pray that Mom does not have to deal with any C. Difficile this time around. This was the worst part of her chemo the first time, and it's something she's definately not looking forward to this time. She was told that her doctor is trying to figure out a way to keep this complication from happening again. Pray that he gets a grand idea, and short of that, that God just intervenes and keeps her gut happy!

More later!