2nd Chemo Treatment - 11-15-2010

Mom's 2nd treatment was pretty eventful. First the good news!!! At the evaluation before the treatment, Dr. Pritchard said that Mom's blood looked really good. He also revealed that the tumor has dramatically shrunk about 75% since starting and that if it continues then we could be seeing a quicker movement into surgery. We were really excited about that possibility. Now, the not so good news. As mom started her chemo, not more than 10 minutes into it, she had some sort of allergic reaction. Mom described it has someone spraying something burning up from her feet into her legs. It eventually settled into her back and was like a knife in her lower spine. The nurses and doctor moved quickly to assess and act in helping mom get her pain under control. They immediately stopped the chemo treatment and then started to administer doses of steriods, benadryl, and morphine all through the iv. Now some more good news, all those medicines helped to get mom back to normal. After about a half an hour started back up her chemo treatment and it went successfully with no other complications. Dr. Pritchard was unsure what caused the reaction and said that he had never seen something like it before. We are just glad that it happened where it did and that all is now better.

Post chemo treatment, Mom is doing really well. She has kept up with her medications and has had no problems. We keep our fingers crossed.

We did have quite an eventful day today but it was not with any drama of pain and suffering. On the other hand it was quite full of fun and laughs. As you know from previous entries, Mom's hair has been falling out. The last several days have been pretty aggressive. Mom said from the beginning that she would prefer just shaving it all off rather than having patches of hair and such. So this morning Mom and I and Gillette had some serious time with each other. And voila, one beautiful head!!!!


Mom then wanted to try on her wigs. She was actually given two, one more curly than the other. The one on the left is the one she likes the most, at least right now.



They did such a great job matching her hair color and with a little more time and practice she will be able to style them pretty much any way she wants.

Afterward Mom wanted Dad and I to experience a little bit of the excitement of having a new look. So at Mom's bidding: "viola"


My kids, Kalin and Vanessa, have yet to stop laughing. They have been going on for several hours.. Lucy says I look like a used car salesman. "Anybody care to purchase a Gremlin in good condition for a great deal?"