Hello All!
Sorry it has been so long since our last update. Honestly, mom has been doing well and there has been little information to update outside of mom's forward progress. (At that is all very good!)
It's hard to believe that tomorrow marks four weeks post surgery! What a long road mom has traveled!
Today, we had our follow up visit with her surgeon, Dr. Ahmad. He is more than pleased with her progress! In his words, "you are doing better than most of my patients that are half your age".
We were really hoping to have mom's feeding tube removed today, however, Dr. Ahmad wants to keep in it until her next appointment (in three weeks). He prefers to keep the feeding tubes in a little longer to be assured that there are no side effects. Mom was a little disappointed but certainly understands the significance of its placement. It's easy to understand her disappointment as she has had a tube "sticking out of her" for three months now! (Especially since she's not using it!)
She did get to have her staples removed today. The nurse let me do that. If I ever had a chance to get even with her for anything she ever did to me as a child, THAT was my opportunity!! HAHA!! I did make it a point to remind her how gentle I was though! She was thankful!
She stills has a small portion of the incision that is draining. That means nothing more than a dressing change twice a day. It is healing very well!
The other point of the follow up today was to begin the discussion of her next course of treatment. This is of course the chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Dr. Ahmad still believes mom to be a little too week to begin that therapy, so we will discuss that in more detail in three weeks. However, we do know that if we decide to take this phase of the treatment that she will receive the chemo agent Gemcitabine. She will receive the treatment once a week for about 12 weeks. She will also receive radiation therapy five days a week for five weeks. More information will follow in the coming weeks as to our next course of action.
In the meantime, mom is focusing her attention on gaining more strength, increasing her caloric intake to assist in her recovery, and increasing her mobility. All of which she is doing VERY well with! She continues to be a true amazement to her medical team. (Not to mention a significant source of motivation for me!)
Please pray for our continued clarity in decision making and moms continued success in her recovery!
Thank you!
Will
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