radiation finished and clancy visit

Mom had her last radiation appointment on Friday morning.  So we are done with radiation for the foreseeable future.  Clancy's leaving on Monday morning after a week of help, music, and lots of construction!  Thank you Clancy!!  He rearranged Mom's apartment, and with the help of Mom's friend Skyler:  built a shelf and extension for her desk (including a spot for her typewriter), put up a high shelf, and added to the nook-feel of the kitchen area by adding a few shelves there.  The place has been transformed into what Mom calls her "hobbit house."  

Clancy and I had some good sibling time on Saturday and even were able to get some music-nerd time in!  He also put up a shelf in my house - yay!

Mom's pain has been a little better every day, although her energy is still low.  Chemo starts Wednesday and I will go with her to that first appointment.  Jennifer will arrive with Miss Oona Saturday morning, and will be joined by Dan and Miss Hazel a week after that. Yay for all of that.

One

day

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time

herself

Here's a photo of Janet from just before her bronchoscopy last Wednesday, managing to make the hospital gown look borderline stylish.

poem about mom

Mom's friend Laura Bailey just sent this poem she wrote about Mom. I just read it aloud to Mom and asked her if I could post it. She responded, "Absolutely!"

JANET IS SO NEW YORK

Janet is so New York she keeps her compassion in her shoe just in case someone tries to rob her of it.

Janet’s hair is as shiny and black as the molding around rehearsal space doors.

Janet’s hello comes at your head like a huge sandwich in a lunch hour deli.

Janet’s soul is a charming efficiency with a galley kitchen and a Murphy bed, it is rent controlled and you cannot have it at any price.

Janet has shoes that are taxi cab yellow and stop suddenly for no reason.

Janet is so New York that her pin number is -- a-five- six- seven- eight.

At night, Janet snoozes on her window sill, wearing neon pajamas while a sax player lies in her bathtub playing her dreams out.

Janet knows why homeless people- who have nothing - have dogs.

Janet is so New York, her thoughts travel on foot and carry water bottles.

There are many living stories in Janet’s naked head.

appt with Dr. Ho

So yesterday Clancy and I went with Mom to her checkup with Dr. Ho, her radiation oncologist, after the 8th radiation treatment. Dr. Ho wants to slowly decrease the number of steroid pills Mom takes every day, although she will need to take 5 steroid pills the night before and 5 the morning of her first chemo treatment, Wed March 12th.

Dr. Ho is so sweet and direct and caring. I really dig her. And Mom does too. So the last radiation treatment is happening tomorrow morning, but Dr. Ho said the effects of radiation will be felt for awhile after that, so that's good. Hopefully Mom's neck pain will soon be a distant memory for all of us!

Since radiation treatment ends tomorrow, going forward Mom will be primarily in the care of Dr. Piatanza.

It's so great to have Clancy in town. He's really helping Mom and I both slow down a bit and take a breath. He's just such a rock too - I have to say, it's nice to lean. And he has rearranged Mom's apartment so she now has a bona fide kitchen "nook" and easy access to her computer and desk. Yay! We also got a clamp light for her at the hardware store yesterday so now it's not such a dark cave in there (although Mom's a total cavedweller!).

She's not 100% on email just yet, but hopefully she will be able to at least read emails soon. Meanwhile, keep those calls coming, people!

a little venting

So yesterday was a good day for Mom. Her pain was much improved and she even managed to go food shopping for her own self after her radiation appointment! She also did a load of laundry which, to me seemed like pushing it, but I guess she just wanted everything to be in order for Clancy's arrival. Sorta sweet. It's really great to have him here. He arrived last night. I went up to see them at Mom's after my internship. Mom's good friend and neighbor Jennifer Cooper was there too (thanks Jennifer for your fabulous energy!), and it was great to just talk about other things, hang out, be together and laugh. There's something about plain ol' laughter that's such strong medicine these days.

I got really worried about Mom though as I sat there watching her last night. I could tell as soon as I walked in the door that she'd overexerted herself yesterday. She just looked really wiped out and in a bit of pain. The wheeze started to come back a bit the longer I stayed and she started to cough more too. She said this happens every night - the cough returns a bit - but I dunno, I just left with a weird pit in my stomach, feeling helpless as usual.

I know that the radiation is helping her neck and that she's in much better shape now than even a week ago, but the whole "one step forward, two steps back" element of this situation really gives me the howling fantods sometimes.

I'm just sayin.

my tidbits

I was en route to a haircut when we had this conference call so my notes are limited as well. But I saw Mom yesterday, looked through some of her notes/pamphlets, and found out that the drug they're nixing from the cocktail is Avastin. Apparently that drug could potentially affect her hearing; hearing on the right side has been a bit wonky already due to the neck pains so...that's a no go. They are taking good care of her.

Her pain was actually much better yesterday - actual periods of sitting up without pain. My friend Leslie is in town (used to live in New York, LOVES Mom) and we hung out with Mom all afternoon, gave her a pedicure and changed her sheets. That was all in the midst of many many phone calls, each of which Mom thoroughly dug. She's really loving all of the human contact these days, so don't be afraid to call her.

Her spirits are in really good shape too, I have to say. She's very zen about this whole thing - really wanting to fight it but also accepting that this is the situation now...as a social worker I met with last week put it, "the new normal." Clancy tomorrow - yay!

squamous

The pathology results are in: the cells are officially squamous cell carcinoma, not adenocarcinoma. Is that good or bad? I can't really tell from my layperson interwebs research. I know one type is supposed to be more treatable than the other. As a result of this information, one of the drugs was removed from her future chemotherapy cocktail, and the schedule was changed a bit--to, I believe, treatment more often than they had been planning. Sorry, I was in the car and took bad notes. Next week is the last week of radiation, and then chemotherapy starts on Wednesday, the 12th.