4th Chemo 12/27/10 & Lots of News and Announcements

First and foremost Mom's 4th chemo went well and without incident!!! She was first administered an ultrasound to make sure that the swelling in Mom's ankle was not a blood clot and was only the lingerings from your falling down on her knee. (I'll return to that later) That is exactly what the ultrasound concluded. We were thankful for the thoroughness of Dr. Pritchard. Paul was able to accompany Mom and Victor and was a big help. This treatment brought the new drug that was introduced on the last blog entry and is lovingly termed, "Devil's blood" because of the appearance. It is introduced through two syringes and is done by the nurse over a twenty minute period. The good news is that there was no allergic reaction. Mom had been a little nervous because of the prior treatments. She was able to relax and enjoy, as much as one could, the rest of the treatment. They even brought her lunch that she really enjoyed. There is an increased chance of nausea and a slight possibility in some of sores appearing in the mouth. We'll see how it goes.

Now the news! First mom's fall. Many of you might have already heard that Mom while getting up in the morning on Monday to start her day with her morning routine she slipped off the side of the bed as she sat up and landed on the tile floor on her knee. Dad struggled to help her up and they had to call Tim who rushed over to aid Mom up. Victor was out of town with his family in D.C. to pick up their daughter, Victoria who was coming home from BYU for the holidays. Mom thought that it was nothing serious and she was able to get around the rest of the day rather normally. But by Tuesday, the 21st, her knee had swollen up rather huge and was in a lot of pain. She already was going in for her blood work check up and an electrocardiogram of the heart in preparation for the new chemo drug. So it was decided to stop by the emergency room after all that for an x-ray just to make sure that there was nothing broken with the knee. Sure enough Mom only sprained it but she was advised to keep off it and ice it. Things are better now though. Mom is able to bend the knee normally and get around. She has been convinced that the aid and support of a walker is okay and she is getting use to it.

Other news. Tuesday morning on the 21st, before leaving for the hospital, Mom received a phone call from Gerry Gilliam, Mom's sister in-law, and was told that her brother, Martin passed away late Monday night. Because of Christmas and not being able to have access to chapel at their Lutheran church, Gerry had to plan to go ahead quickly with the funeral on the 23rd. Gerry and Mom talked and decided in light of Mom's knee and other condition and also because of the relatively short notice that it would be better that Mom did not attend. Her is the link to Martin's obituary notice in the local paper.


http://www.oakridger.com/obituaries/x1682032342/Martin-L-Gilliam

Mom did have an opportunity to be with her brother a year or so ago at Sharon's funeral. Sharon was the daughter of Martin and Gerry.

Some other news. A couple of weeks ago Tim, Paul, and Bart were able to take a little trip down to Southwestern VA and see the places of Mom and Dad's growing up. On their way down they stopped in Christiansburg and visited aunt Lois who while in her nineties is still agile and lively. Time recorded this video greeting that she sent to Mom and Dad. She even danced the jitterbug. It makes you appreciate life and relationships. Thanks again for all you prayers and love. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!




I'll include the jitterbug in the next blog.

3rd Chemo & 1st Check-up Afterward - 12/13/2010

I want to first apologize for not posting last week's results of Mom's 3rd Chemo treatment until now. There has been a lot going on!!! As you see above, Mom had quite the entourage for her third treatment. Ginny came into town on the 3rd and Norman was visiting us as well. I was hoping to say that Mom's chemo was uneventful, but she had another allergic reaction. She was able to recognize the symptoms quickly and Ginny was able to notify the nurses and staff quickly so that they were able to stop the iv and administer some medication to calm her pain. Dr. Pritchard believes she indeed has an allergy with the Docetaxel (trade name Taxotere). They did not continue with the treatment of Taxotere, but went ahead with the 2nd medicine, the Cytoxan, cyclophospamide. He decided to switch out the Taxotere with a different medicine, Adriamycin (doxorubicin). He said it should do the same thing and that is good because it was the Taxotere that was having the biggest effect on the cancer. Mom's breast had a little more a pink color this week and Dr. Summers, her surgeon said that it was because she did not have the taxotere this last time. Speaking of Dr. Summers, we did get to meet with her today and she was ecstatic with how everything has been going. She did a sonogram and measured the tumor and lymph node behind it and recorded the measurements. Indeed it has shrunk quite remarkably. After she and Dr. Pritchard talked on the phone it was decided that Mom will go ahead with 3 more chemo treatments and then have her surgery. They both want to make sure that there is absolutely no trace in the underlying skin; and with the development of the pink coloring again they don't want to rush it too fast. So Mom will have her next chemo on the 27th of December. It will most likely be in late February or early March when she will have the surgery. We are grateful for the competent medical team in whose hands Mom has been placed.

2nd Check-up after 2nd Chemo - 11/29/10

Felicia was able to come up Sunday night with her daughter, Esther, and spend the night the day before Mom's checkup. Dad accompanied Felicia and Mom to the appointment where all went well. Dr. Pritchard said that he was so pleased with Mom's progression that he was possibly going to have her see Dr. Summers, the surgeon after the 3rd chemo to see if surgery could be done. He said that they would still follow up with several more rounds of chemo afterward but that things were looking great. Mom asked about her allergic reaction from that past treatment and Dr. Pritchard prescribed several steroids that she could take preceding the treatment and that they would also give her a shot of Benadryl prior to it as well. The hope is that it would counteract any possible allergies. We hope!!! : ) The group was able to enjoy the day together afterward with a little lunch.