Big Monday

Mom and Dad slept well last night after a LONG Sunday and were refreshed ( a relative term ) this morning when I arrived.
The things that we had been expecting did not happen today. They were going to come in and try to get the port needle placed, but Dr. Krueger ( from Seattle Cancer Care Alliance) came in and learned about the problems and pain Mom had experienced and decided to cancel the placement until he has spoken with the general surgeon that did the surgery.
Later, the Dr. that administers the chemotherapy came in to get a medical history from Mom and examine her then discuss the chemo treatment with her.

Here is what we learned today:

1) Mom's tumor/cancer is called Sarcoma. It is a soft tissue cancer that is rare. Only 1% of tumors are a sarcoma, which translates to about 8,000 a year. It is also tough to treat as there are so many sub categories of sarcoma. Mom's pathology report did not come back with much more information than sarcoma, so it did not narrow it down as much as they would like. They have decided on the type of chemo she will receive. It is a high grade tumor and they have found in research studies that the best treatment with a sarcoma is chemo, radiation and surgery. So, this has added a third dimension (in radiation) that we thought would not happen. It is her best chance of survival, but they are saying that it is not a "home run". We had been told at our first appt. that her benchmark is 5 years. If she can get through the surgery, the cancer can be removed and she stays cancer free for 5 years, her chances go up exponentially.

2) Her treatment will be chemo for 6 days in the hospital. One of the chemo meds will run 24 hours a day for the 6 days. The other one will run during those same 6 days and run 4 hours a day. She will then go home and return on the 22nd day after the first day of treatment for her second cycle. After the second cycle they will most likely do another PET scan and MRI to see if the tumor has shrunk. She may at that point need the radiation. Next will be the surgery to remove the tumor.

We heard all about the side effects and what to expect. Not a real "uplifting" conversation. But in the end, the Dr. told Mom that she is relatively healthy and that she CAN do it. It will be a really hard chemo, but that she will get through it and that they have a lot more medications than they did even 10 years ago and that they can do a lot more to alleviate some of those side effects.
The other news that was not great is that the Dr. was not happy with the infected leg and wants Mom on iv antibiotics a full 7 days. So........... this means 3 more days before she starts her chemo and then 6 days of chemo before she gets to come home. She came up for a two night stay and will leave about a month after she came in. We are doing better tonight, but had to pace ourselves in order to digest all the news today.
It's 8:10 PM and still no news on how they will address the port problems.
Gordie and Sandy Bauslaugh ( Our pastor and his wife, who have known Mom and Dad for years) came up to pray with us this afternoon. We had just gotten back from a walk /ride with Mom outside in the sun. It was a nice way to wrap up the afternoon. We are relaxing in the room. Dad is watching a silly movie and Mom is writing a few cards.
Today was one more day that we were lifted by your words of encouragement, your constant prayers and God's continuous love and peace. It is good to know He is here in the midst of this craziness.

With love and gratitude,
Kimberly