Like the superhero that mom is, she finished up her in-patient rehab therapy for her hip in record time! So I had to scoot on back to Atlanta on Monday afternoon, but I wasn't able to get there in time to help the staff actually move her to the one of the CTCA hotels unfortunately. So, by the time I got to her, she was completely worn out. I also think being down there last week, without anyone she knew took a toll on her as well (as it would anyone)! Before I left, she insisted she didn't need anyone down there while she was working so hard on getting to walk again, but sometimes, there's something to be said for just having someone there, if nothing else, to advocate for you.
Anyway, she made it through regardless, but lesson learned. So on Tuesday we headed to see her oncologist -- good ol' Dr. Ricky. His name is actually Ricardo Alvarez, but mom and I get a kick out of calling him "Dr. Ricky" (not to his face, although we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will probably slip up and call him that one day). Back to the story - mom was still reeling from the previous week, tired and just overall not feeling well. Something else to note is that mom has been having significant breathing issues. When we saw Dr. Ricky on Tuesday, he noted her weakness, and the fact that she had lost 10 lbs since all of this started 2 weeks ago. So he decided postpone chemo for that day, and to run a CT that night to make sure nothing significant was going on that x-rays weren't picking up. She was too weak for a chemo treatment since it will take you down a notch, which isn't good when you are already down in the pits. But, the CT of her lungs showed well surprisingly, but it did reveal an effusion around her heart.
He called us after 9pm that night to tell us those results, but didn't seem overly concerned. But hindsight, I think he just didn't want to worry us so we could rest well before the next day began. As soon as we made it to the CTCA the next morning, we get a phone call that she is to report to the cardiology department ASAP, and to push all other appointments to the side. So we rushed to cardiology and they did an echocardiogram immediately with a cardiologist and determined that while there is fluid, it doesn't seem to impacting her heart function. Something to keep an eye on, but it doesn't appear to be the culprit for her breathing issues. A relief but we were frustrated that we still couldn't get to the bottom of the breathing issue. They have scanned her I-don't-know-how-many times to make sure nothing crazy is going on, and there isn't any major issue that they can find (and I am so thankful for their diligence in this). What they THINK is happening, per her pulmonary doctor at CTCA, is that there is inflammation in the lungs occurring, due to her immunotherapy, which we knew was a risk. It was a very low risk, but leave it to mom to defy the odds! 😉
So, there were a couple options, and they decided (pulmonary and oncology together) to continue with treatment, but with a low-dose steroid to combat the inflammation, while also not offsetting the immunotherapy... which is targeting her cancer directly, via the PD-L1 biomarker. The GOOD news in all of this is that looking at her tumor marker from her labs, as well as the the impromptu CT that she wasn't supposed to get until after 2 more treatments, is that she seems to responding well to treatment! If she could just continue to get stronger with her walking and get her breathing under control, we are hoping it means she will get a treatment break once she is done with this next month's cycle (consists of 2 treatments, with 1 of those completed on Wednesday).
Wednesday and Thursday were significantly better with regard to her demeanor and just overall feeling better, and she was finally eating. So she got her chemo treatment on Wednesday, we had a follow-up visit with ortho, and she got her stitches out of her hip, and we went straight to the airport to GET HER HOME! Y'all I was worried on Monday. I mean, truly scared, because mom just seemed so worn out and defeated. I had no idea how I was going to get her around to these appointments, much less back to Wilmington with her feeling so bad. I am so grateful that she bounced back the way she did. Like I said - superhero! 💪💪💪 #stronglikemama
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