Shaved Heads

...well just one really. Mom started losing her hair and before it fell out completely, she had Drew come over and shave it off. I talked to her before it happened and she said that her natural hair just looked so gross. Aunt Paula sent one of her wigs to mom and so she wore it to church yesterday. Drew said she looks good for a bald lady! Keep her in your prayers; pray she doesn't get too distracted by the latest "adventure." This Friday marks her second treatment. Four more after this!

CHINA

Well, it's official. I'm going to Hong Kong and China. It's official because I purchased my tickets on Monday. Whew! It was a huge relief! Now I gotta save the moola for hotel, food, souvenirs and other expenses such as my Visa and new tennis shoes for the walking! I'm too exctied! Here is one of my favorite paintings from China:

Poet on A Mountain by Shen Chou

Chemotherapy

I'm not sure what I expected, but chemotherapy is a long wait. Mom's appointment was at 1:30 where she was checked by the doctor first and then chemo. Since it was the first time, it took a little longer. We didn't get back to the 'therapy' room until 2:30. We were prepared though. Drew and I brought cards, dominos, books and my iPod. We ended up just talking and playing cards and if Mom would have let us we would have raced each other on the stools with wheels, but she said no. :( When we walked in there were about 15 recliners with more than half filled with people receiving treatment. The drugs are given through IV. Mom has a port in her chest so she doesn't have to be stuck each time with a needle. To see what this looks like click here. First given is her pre-meds which include an anti-nausea drug and antihistamine and some others I can't remember. There is also a bag of saline solution that helps flush everything through the blood stream. The pre-meds take about 10 minutes to go through. The next to drugs take about an hour each to drip in. I think they were called tamoxifen and taxotere. The last drug is a combo of Cytoxan and adriamycin. It's a red color and some people call it the Red Devil or the Scarlet Angel. It's pushed in by the nurse over a ten minute time period through a big syringe. We left the dr's at 6pm. The nurse, Linda, by the way she was awesome!!!, said oh yeah, go out and eat something you'll be fine tonight! So we did. We went for Chinese. Yummy.

Saturday we sorta slept in and laid around a little bit. We also did a couple of exercises to get the blood pumping. I also made chicken and rice for lunch. I thought it was pretty good. Later I went and visited Grandma, who is in the hospital for pneumonia. She's better but still weak. She'll need to be moved to physical therapy to regain her strength. Then I went and saw Dad for a bit. I was coming back into town and there was a huge traffic jam. I forgot that there was a Razorback basketball game and so I turned around and headed back to Farmington and took the back roads around all the traffic. I stopped at Ozark Natural Food store to pick up some L-Glutamine for mom. Sheesh, that's expensive!! $28 for about 3/4 cup of powder. It's supposed to help achy joints; a side effect from the chemo. That night Roger came over for lasanga and a movie. I Captured the Castle is a strange movie. I'm not sure I would recommend it.

Sunday we cleaned up a little and hung out until I left. I'm just saying that traveling at night is the way to go. NO TRAFFIC!! Dallas was a breeze to get around. It helped too that it was a Sunday.

I called Mom on Monday to see how it went and she said she finally threw up but it made her feel a lot better. So there ya go! I tried on the wig Aunt Paula sent for Mom. I definitely look different as a short haired brunette. Patrick tried it on too. Maybe I can weasel the pictures from Mom and post them here. Good for blackmail. :)

At first I thought the first chemo treament would be the worst, but I was informed I was wrong. Keep Mom in your prayers. We are waiting for the results of a PET scan to see if the cancer is anywhere else in her body. The waiting is the worst!!

Her friends are so incredible! Drew (oldest younger brother) is awesome too. It's like he's a totally different person. He has bent over backwards to be there for Mom. Wow!

Mom Update

Everything is going so fast but probably not fast enough for my Mom. Monday Mom gets a port where the chemo goes and Friday she starts chemo. She will get it every three weeks six times. I'm coming down for the first the first one to see how she does. I can't even remember the names of the drugs she'll be getting...three kinds. Aunt Paula (Mom's sister) said she would loan Mom her turbans and wigs. Aunt Paula is finishing up her rounds of chemo for her second bout with breast cancer. Pray for my Mom and family!! Updates as I get them.