I've really had it...

with the hospital that is in charge of scheduling my mom's needle biopsy! They've called twice and have changed the procedure date. And I"ve had to alter my entire schedule for this. I don't mind changing my schedule being there. I mind these people who seem to think that a needle biopsy on a tumor on a pancreas is not urgent!

Mom is pretty hacked off too.

Complete family again

Hubby has been on the road for 3 of 4 weeks this month. He'll return tomorrow night and to my knowledge, no trips are in his immediate future! He's been home a night or two in there, but mainly to leave the dirty clothes and to pack clean ones. ha

He's been in Virginia, North Carolina, London, the DC area and North Carolina again.

I am ready to have him back because I am spoiled to having him do the morning school routine with the boys. And with the week I have shaping up with Mom's procedures and dr. appointments, I am looking forward to an additional 30 minutes in bed a morning or two this week.

A week of Dr. visits

Mom has a needle biopsy of the spot on her pancreas set up for Wednesday morning. She & I both see our endocrinoloist on Thursday. Friday I think we'll finally get her mammogram done. The medical staff in Lubbock have been anything but helpful this week. Please pray that we get the films from previous mammograms this week.

Amazed

I received a phone call from my S-I-L today to check on my mom. She said she'd been after my brother for a week to call and get an update.

Still an only child...

but birth records state otherwise.

Why, oh why, won't my brother contact our parents? Why doesn't he call my mom? He knows about the possible cancer return becase I called and told him. He even said he'd call. But it's been 3 weeks and he hasn't.

It's no longer about me not having help to care for Mom and Dad. That's a foregone conclusion. But it IS about the fact that he could be just a tiny bit less selfish and put others' needs ahead of his for even 10 minutes per week.

That's all it would take for him to call and say "Hi how are you?" to mom and dad.

Must go read and stop rumenating.

Blessed

I found the blog of an aquainance today. I met this family when they were a family of four -- they're now a family of seven. Their youngest son has several medical issues. I read through their entire blog today and am amazed at what a wonderful testament of faith their journey has been.

If you think your life is too hard, take an afternoon to read their blog: http://thelifeoftitus.blogspot.com/.

No more hot spots discovered!

We met with the oncologist this a.m. The PET scan still shows the spot in the lung to be 'suspicious.' The spot on the pancreas is not definite, so a needle biopsy is being scheduled for that. We are still in the process of getting one more test done (next Tuesday) and are still requesting records, films,etc. from mom's previous doctors.

The pancreas might not be involved. We'll see soon. The doctor did not mention any other hot spots!

Thursday could be "C" Day

I go w/ my parents to get the results of Mom's CT, PET, and other tests Thursday. We'll find out if her cancer had recurred. I pray that it's not cancer.

I hate Western media

My oldest DS was doing homework tonight and needed information about sporting team rivalries. He went to Sport Illustrated to get the information. And there at the top of the webpage was a link to the swimsuit edition of the magazine. Now I understand that this 'edition' has been published for a number of years, but it seems that the photos get more and more provocative.

I am dismayed that a simple homework assignment can lead to viewing soft porn in my own home.

UGH!

Shopping

My mom has decided that if she does have cancer again we are going shopping for burial plots for her and my dad.

Talk about a bummer. I hate shopping for most things. This one, however, will be very difficult and it's not something I even want to think about, much less take an active part in.

I know that life is short. God has a plan and that plan is better than anything I can ask or imagine. I'd just like to see this all be a big mistake on the part of the doctors and no shopping of any sort will be required.

However, when a cyst grows in a lung and a spot on the pancreas grows, I guess it's only prudent to plan ahead.

I'm not ready for this. Who is ever ready for this?

Spring Break Summary

I have visited with my college roommate and with relatives from my extended family this week.

Unfortunately, my mom got sick on our trip to see the relatives and we had to return home earlier than expected. She's seen a GP and has gotten medications. Her CT scan is still scheduled for Monday. The PET scan machine has had troubles, so due to delays in the schedule, Mom won't get her PET scan until Tuesday now. At least that gives her another day to recover from the upper resp. infection.

Am working on taking control of the house, as I"ve been away for a week. It will all be here later if I don't get it all done, but I hope to finish much today and tomorrow.

Inconclusive Biopsy Results

Mom's biopsy was not conclusive. Now we must see an oncologist, get a PET scan and go from there. If no other 'hot spots' are found, then they'll just do surgery and take out that lower lobe of her lung and get whatever-the-heck-that-is OUT of there.

If there are other 'hot spots', biopsy(ies) will be required before any further action is taken.

And I thought this would give us a definitive answer.

Biopsy is over

Now the real waiting starts. However...the dr. said that today when they turned mom from back to front he saw an air bubble in the 'spot' move! To me that means there's a possiblity it's not a solid mass (i.e. cancer). He said he got goopy stuff out of it. I'm praying that it's an encapsulated infection and that mom will just neet good antibiotics to fix it all.

Mom's halfway there...

her CA125 tumor marker test results were in the normal range. The needle biopsy is tomorrow at 9. Hopefully we'll have an answer about what's in her lung very soon.

I'm o.k.

The 2nd sonogram showed that all is normal! Praise the Lord

Needle biopsy...

for Mom is Thurday (3/6).