2nd Treatment -- 1st Cycle

Medically speaking, this trip was uneventful (which is a good thing). She had her normal check-in with her oncologist, and then chemo/immunotherapy, and we also tried to get her scheduled for an MRI while we were in ATL, but they couldn’t squeeze her in. The MRI is for an issue that she’s having with her hip, since her last treatment. She’s had bursitis in the couple of months preceding her being diagnosed, so when she went to be checked at her PCP, they chalked it up to bursitis again. The problem with that is that none of the treatment seems to be giving her much relief at all(cortisone shot plus meloxicam), and she’s having a lot of trouble walking or getting around at all. She uses a walker almost all of the time at home now, and has been managing with just a cane and wheelchair on this trip. It has been eventful in that respect just because this is the first time mom hasn’t been totally mobile on her own. 

Navigating the airport and riding around in the shuttles were more difficult than our previous trips, just because there’s a lot of her getting up and down, and different paths we have to take due to accessibility — we’ve felt a little out of sorts just because it’s not our normal routine, and we realize now that we need to allow more time to get places. 

Other than that, mom has been feeling pretty good and in good spirits. Everyone has been so nice about checking in on her and helping when possible, especially since I’m 2 hours away — y’all don’t know how much it helps and relieves stress for her and I both! The first few days after the last treatment brought on a lot of body aches and overall unpleasantness, but she seemed to get over that fairly quickly (roughly 4-5 days). The biggest ordeal was and is her mobility after that. Her oncologist prescribed some Tramadol, in hopes that it gives her some relief until we can figure out what’s going on.

Despite all of that, we managed to make the best of it and we buzzed around the treatment center laughing, as I would make car noises while pushing her in the wheelchair (to her amusement). Mom would also critique my wheelchair driving abilities (still a mom through and through), and she’d constantly comment about how fast we were going, and that she needed goggles and a scarf to fly behind her (all I could picture was snoopy). 😂 We laughed uncontrollably over that for a solid 5 minutes — I could not get the image out of my head! There were a couple times I’d forget that she wasn’t just sitting in a chair beside me, and when we I would get up to make our next move, I’d walk off… and then remember that I have to push her, and quickly would run back and fetch her. #oops 🙎

There are also a couple times when she’d tell me to stop at the trashcan so she could throw something away, and I’d forget, and run right past it, and she’d say “YEEEEEAAAAAAWN.” 🚗💨 This never got old (unfortunately) and I’m sure that the people who don’t understand our humor (basically everyone) think we’re crazy and probably quietly say, “Bless their hearts..” under their breath. The demeanor in the cancer treatment center is pretty quiet and solemn as you can imagine, so we are a bit… um, different. Oh well — sorry, not sorry. Here’s hoping her hip pain eases up and she has minimal side effects this time around. 🍻

Chemo & Immunotherapy -- 1st Treatment, 1st Cycle

We had a busy week in Atlanta. Mom had some breathing tests completed that showed a wide variety of things with regard to her lung capacity and function. I wish she would've let me get a video of these tests because they were truly something to behold! It was quite a workout for mom (I swear, I think she had to put her eyeballs back in a few times) and she was sore afterwards. The tests make you use your lungs in ways that you wouldn't normally. She did great and the test results produced nothing surprising, according to the pulmonologist. We will take that as good news!

She also got an echocardiogram that was standard for starting chemo. They said it provides a sort of baseline to reference, if problems arise later as she goes through treatment. The test results for her heart were good!

Her labs were great, with exception to her potassium, which they just gave her a few tablets to get those levels up a bit. Also, her labs returned an elevated level with regard to tumor markers, but that wasn't surprising since we know she has cancer already. But those levels will tell us as we go, if the treatment is helping or not. Obviously, we are hoping those levels go down in the future. Beyond that, we won't know much about how the treatments are going until we see the CT scan results in 2 months, after 2 cycles. We do hope that her breathing gets easier, as the chemo and immunotherapy help to shrink whatever is present in her lungs.

We knew what to expect with the chemo process, so no big surprises there. They gave her all her pre-meds, and she was already pretty tired from the anesthesia from her port surgery earlier. So it came as no surprise that she was ready for a nap when the benadryl hit her system. Both the immunotherapy and chemotherapy took only 2-3 hours with everything. And then we were done!

We came back to the hotel and it took me almost 2 hours to get take out from a local restaurant while she rested in the room. That was a fiasco and a long story that basically equates to the CTCA needing to get their transportation department in order. It is a BIG frustration recently when we go. Things are already stressful enough, so it is really disappointing when even getting food is complicated.

Aside from that, it was a quiet night, but mom didn't sleep well. She was really sore from her port surgery and I think she had a hard time getting comfortable. Not to mention, the chemo pumping through her veins probably didn't help.

Today, she woke up and felt pretty good aside from being tired, and then as the day went on, she started feeling worse. I also noticed that she's getting more winded as she walks. One of the side effects of the immunotherapy is shortness of breath, so to pair that with her already having shortness of breath, isn't totally surprising. She went to bed fairly early and said she feels generally yucky. I'm hoping tomorrow she feels better, because tomorrow is her birthday! 💝

We go back in 2 weeks, instead of weekly like we first thought. Her doctor said he can double the chemo dose every 2 weeks with her immunotherapy, instead of spacing it out and having her come every week. No reason to believe that doing so will be less effective, so we are going with it!

 Mom -- fresh out of surgery. She was happy about her pink wheelchair! 💟