The only treatment that the oncologist had planned for mom is chemotherapy. The hope was that chemo would reduce the size of the tumors on her liver enough to make life more comfortable for her. She hasn’t really had any pain to speak of at this point, but the mass in her mid section has become visible when just looking at her. The mass is taking up a lot of space and pushing against other organs. Think of how you feel after eating a huge holiday dinner. That undo the button on your pants, bloated feeling. That’s the best way to describe what she feels. However, unlike eating it a big meal that goes away in a couple hours, her discomfort persists. She found out about a medical trial through the oncology clinic and figured she might as well participate. It was a double blind study so she might have ended up in the placebo group. The study was for a drug that would ‘help’ chemo do its job better. I didn’t really read what the intended effect was all about, but that was the gist anyway. If it did help, then perfect. If not, then oh well.
Before she could start chemo, mom needed to get an MRI on her brain to see if the cancer has spread there. She was particularly worried about this. Her father’s lung cancer has spread to his brain and cause paralysis and a very difficult end of life. She did not want that to happen to her and did not want her family to have to go through that again. Unfortunately the MRI revealed that there was cancer in her brain, however it was one small spot and the oncologist spoke with the radiation oncologist who was confident that only one radiation treatment was needed to take care of the spot on her brain. Mom was relieved at this news. She was no longer able to participate in the clinical trial though. It was just too bad she found this information out just after she got out of a contrast CT scan. She hated drinking that solution and the scan took forever. Looking back, if I had knowledge of what the brain tumor diagnosis meant, I could have prevented the CT scan. I found out about the brain tumor from her oncologist while she was still drinking the solution and waiting for it to work through her system. Oh well.
You may have noticed that I have written very little about my parents primary doctor. While they really like the oncologists they have, their primary doctor is a bit of a sore spot. They have been going to the primary for 30+ years and some how after all the warning signs and my father harping on him, he missed cancer in my mother by enough time that it spread throughout her body. While stuff sometimes happens that we cannot control, there were reasons to be vigilant with my mother. Her family history (3 of the 4 immediate family members she had, her mother, father and sister all had cancer), her history of smoking, the several times the doctor cut out skin cancer, etc. There were risk factors and my father is completely fed up with their primary. We are pretty sure that the primary doctor knows how he feel as well. The primary is slow to return his calls and when he does the answer is either see your oncologist or as in the case on one February morning, go to the ER. My father was still having problems with breathing, was now getting dizzy when standing and had darkened stool. So off to the ER we go again with dad. He wasn’t admitted this time though, they checked him for bleeding and did chest scans. The result was, you are fine. The dizziness is from the blood thinners, there was no blood in his stool and the blood clots in his lungs were all gone. So although it was a big drama to get him checked out he was fine. Still has the cough, shortness of breath and weakness. More on that later though.
February 7th my parents took my older brother out for dinner for his birthday. I didn’t go with them, so I don’t really know what they talked about, but I am sure that the topic of how things were going with my parents came up.
February 12th my mother had her first chemotherapy treatment. Her treatment went well, but she was very tired when she got home. The treatment lasted a little over 6 hours. They were giving her more powerful poisons than they gave my father and they were constantly monitoring how she was feeling and adjusting the flow of the drip to try to prevent her from getting nauseous. She made it through that chemo treatment ok, but you can tell it was rough on her. She has not really been the same since that time. The next day she had to go back to the oncology clinic to get a shot that would stimulate white blood cell production. It was also the last time my father has driven. I am now the chauffeur.