Maggie here again! My mom is still in the hospital, but we received some good news today. She had her endoscopy and partial colonoscopy this afternoon and both came back showing NO NEW CANCER GROWTH! There was a chance that something new had snuck in and was causing all of her new symptoms, but that is not the case. Nice try cancer. Not this time. The GI doctor said that her colon looks like a work of art (to which she added, “maybe a Jackson Pollock,” and Kaplan said “more like Andy Warhol”), and Kaplan said that her stomach looks almost normal. THIS IS GREAT NEWS! Clearly I don’t need to spell that out for all of you, but I’m reveling in it a bit.
So that being said, we’re not completely out of the woods. She’s still not feeling very well (cramping and diarrhea have lessened but not stopped) and she is spending at least tonight (probably tomorrow and maybe more) in the hospital. Basically she will be there until Dr. Kaplan thinks she can eat and drink enough on her own to be comfortable at home. Also the diarrhea probably has to stop first. She hasn’t had much to eat at all in the past few days, and she spent most of today fasting for her endoscopy. After the procedure she was able to eat some jell-o and yogurt. Her appetite is coming back, which is great! During the procedure they took some biopsies and cultures to try to figure out a bit more about what’s going on in there. From what I understand, it’s either a reaction to the chemo pill or an unfortunate viral infection that she picked up. Hopefully the tests from today will tell the doctors what they need to know, but right now she’s just waiting to heal up.
Thanks again to everyone! This is not an easy time and it’s always a comfort knowing you’re out there.
Hi Maggie: I was so sorry to read earlier today of your mom’s setback and so happy to see that she is feeling a bit better now. Please tell her I say: “Hang in there, Janet! You are on a new path. You are incredibly resilient. Tell these side effects to go jump in a lake!”
ReplyDelete…much love…betsy
Maggie. Thanks so much for the updates. I know you know it, but there are lots of us out here who want to know what's up but don't want to be a burden. So your posts are super helpful to us all. We are with you all.
ReplyDeleteMaggie,
ReplyDeleteWe love updates. We love GOOD much more than anything else. We love hearing what Hank has to say because he's funny and he does NOT lie. It's good he's keeping her in because he wants full healing. Tell your mom that I was at a concert last night where the audience (and the artist) yelled FECK (Australian for fuck) cancer many, many times. I was channeling that to her stomach but maybe it missed and went straight to her intestines? Hmmmm.
For all of you wondering what 'feck' really means, and go on, I know you are out there, here's a really swell article by an Irish man to clear things up! Maggie, you'll appreciate this, and well, may we all get a giggle out of this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/the-meanings-and-origins-of-feck/
Give her a big kiss from me. Hope the last few days have gone in the right direction. Love you guys.
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