Appropriately, Allen, the 8 year old with no prior experience and very limited knowledge of the teams themselves, won. He edged out his Uncle Mikey by one point. Big Al finished a distant 3rd. Predictably, KB's affinity for the University of "Hannah" Montana came back to bite her, but at least she can claim victory over her big sister, Maggie, whose bracket had more red-ink mark-ups than my old 10th grade English papers. As for me, I've already purchased Athlon's 2013/2014 NCAA preseason issue with the hope that I can compete with my savant son next year. If he keeps this up, I may have to send him to UNLV for college.
Mom had a modest showing in the Bracket Challenge, but the same cannot be said about her progress in her Cancer Challenge. But, I need to fill you in a bit first. For the past couple of weeks, Mom has not been herself. Most notably, she had been emotional, "loopy" and not totally in the present. We knew that some of her medications caused emotional swings, but we were not sure why she was loopy. After the first chemo, she had been that way because of the impairments to her liver, and that may have been the reason this time too, though the new chemo cocktail that Mom took in late March was chosen for its ability to leave the liver alone. So that was a mystery.
Despite our concern about Mom's cognitive ability, she had made great strides with her "numbers." Her protein levels are way up, so much so that Dr. Cantrell said that Dad can stop stuffing Mom full of whey protein shakes, much to Mom's relief. Her white blood count is normal, which was a surprise and a relief (one less shot). Her bilirubin count dropped, which is a good thing. Most importantly for Mom, she woke up pain-free for the first time since the Fall. Her appetite returned and she regained some of the weight she had lost, pleasing her doctors and her family greatly. She even felt well enough to drive her car for the first time in a couple of months and she and Dad went down to the lake the first weekend in April. There's nothing better to put you in the right frame of mind than a weekend at Lake Martin, so I think that did her well.
However, this is also about the time when the confusion and unsteadiness on her feet reemerged. It got so bad that Dad decided to take Mom to see Dr. Cantrell early last week to see if he could determine what was causing the blank stares and non-responsiveness. They performed an ultrasound and found that her liver lesions were smaller (a very good thing) though she still has one lesion on her spleen. Her liver function numbers had improved, so they didn't have a good answer for why Mom's cognitive ability was so diminished. That's when Mom and God took over.
Last Friday night, Mom fell while getting up in the middle of the night. Mom never does anything half-way and so the result of her fall was a doozy of a shiner on her right eye. I'm forbidden from posting a photo of it, but trust me when I tell you that it was one of the most pronounced black-eyes you will ever see. It almost looked like Hollywood make-up. Anyway, as Mom described her fall, "it knocked some sense into me." Jim Lasker was concerned about the eye and mentioned it to Dr. Cantrell who made a house call. (Mom's medical care has been world-class. We are blessed!!!) Mom has never taken drugs with any regularity in her life and she suspected that the plethora of pills she had been taking was the culprit in our great mystery. Mom sat Dr. Cantrell down at the kitchen table, brought over her pharmacy-sized bin full of drugs, and they went through each one to determine what was necessary and what could be suspended. This little exercise yielded a reduction in Mom's daily pill intake to two.
Saturday, I went over to check on Mom. I had been dreading doing it because I had seen her during the week and had experienced how "dazed and confused" she had been, and it had made me sad. When I received a photo of her black eye, it made me sadder. So, on the short drive to her house, I prepared myself for the worst. I was in for a surprise!! I walked in the back door and a strong voice yelled out "That was quick!" (She thought I was Dad, who had just left for a law school event.) I walked into her bedroom and found her sitting up and alert. I pulled up a chair and we talked for over an hour but, better than that, we LAUGHED!!! It was amazing! It was fun! Mom was back! I don't even remember what all that we talked about, but I left her house that night feeling more confident and more relieved than I had in a long time.
On Monday, April 15th, Mom went in for her third chemotherapy treatment, the second using Cytoxon plus 5FU and Receptin, which she handled well. Dr. Cantrell will keep her on this cocktail until her liver improves further. It does not shrink the tumors as quickly as Methatextrate (the original chemo), but it is easier on her liver. Her breast cancer marker (CA2729) halved itself in one month's time, which is a fantastic trend. There is still a ways to go before she can be considered in remission, but we like the trend line. The cancer is shrinking and, as Dr. Cantrell described it, "She's out of the woods, but still on the edge."
I suspect Mom will begin feeling badly toward the end of this week, but I am hopeful (and relatively confident) that we will not see a return of the dazed and confused person that we saw the past few weeks. I believe that Mom has renewed vigor and that she will begin getting out more once the initial chemo malaise passes.
The alarms are about to go off in my house and then the madness begins again, so I'll wrap this up. While the last few weeks weren't great, the last weekend was better than I had hoped and I think we are headed in the right direction. I can see new life and determination in Mom that leads me to believe that we have every right to be hopeful for a positive outcome. Please keep your prayers coming....they're working!! Pray that Mom's breast cancer marker continues to fall, that she tolerates the chemotherapy well, that her liver continues to heal, that she does not experience any further cognitive diminution, and anything else you can think of. Also, please pray for the caregivers, especially Dad, as he cares for Mom, pray that he is supported emotionally. That's the really crummy thing about cancer or other similar conditions....it attacks the patient, but it also attacks the family and community as well.
Thank you to all who have written, called, emailed, & checked-in on Mom. I've seen her reading letters from friends she hasn't seen in years and I've seen how it comforts her. You've all been so caring and thoughtful and you have positively affected us more than you could know. Each of you is a part of Mom's medical staff, providing the care and healing that only friends can provide. Thank you all!
Now, back to my Athlon's pre-season basketball guide. Can't let my 8 year old son beat me again!!
