6th Chemo & Dr. Summers' visit - surgery scheduled for the 3rd of March

Mom's last round of chemo went really well, it was on the 7th. Paul came to accompany us. She continues to be an inspiration to us all. She had an appointment this past Monday, the 21st, with Dr. Summers the surgeon. Dr. Summers was really pleased with how everything had gone with chemo and the way the tumor had reacted to the treatments. It is all shrunk to only a little mass that they struggle to find when examining her. Dr. Summers has scheduled Mom's surgery for the 3rd of March sometime in the afternoon. Even though the tumor has shrunk it will be a mastectomy and not jut a lumpectomy. Dr.Summers insisted that with the nature of this kind of cancer and with the lymph nodes that were infected, it is what is best to ensure the possibility of getting it all and not to have the likelihood of returning. She did say that they would be able to be very precise and exact and would only remove the tumor and the ducts of the lymph nodes infected without harming or touching any muscle or other tissue. We all felt that it was right to continue following the advice of these wonderful physicians. Mom will spend a night in the hospital after the surgery and if all goes well she will be able to return home the next day. Becky is flying into Charlottesville on the 2nd and will be a big help for the weeks she is planning on staying. Once again we would like to thank all for your prayers and concern. we'll keep everyone posted.

5th Chemo Treatment - 1/17/2011

The 5th treatment has come and gone and so far it has been uneventful. Paul was able to accompany Mom to this treatment and they met with Dr. Pritchard before the treatment and he was happy about how things were progressing. He said that after the first blood draw after the 6th chemo Mom would meet with Dr. Sumers the surgeon to set the date for her surgery. He said that it would most likely be some time in late March.

We keep plodding along slowly but steady. Mom still has had no problems with the new chemo drug.

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.

1st Check-up after 2nd Chemotherapy - 11/27/2010

Everything was great at the appointment this past week. It was one of the quickest ones yet. All the numbers were great. Mom has had no side effects this round and we credit that to her keeping up on the medicine and not letting it lapse. She is doing wonderful and we were able to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner together. A lot to be thankful for!!!

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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?"