Monday, April 29, 2013

On an even keel...

Mom had a visit with Dr. Porubcin today - her monthly appointment to get her counts and go over her bloodwork. He had nothing but good things to say (her CA125 is at 40 - slightly up from last month but not a concern) about her health and how good she looked. Mom will continue to get her port flushed every six weeks and they will do another blood count check in 6 weeks, but he doesn't want to see her until July for a follow up.

...he still manages to get in a word or two about her cough!

I guess she is on an even keel for now and not getting worse. The cancer is there, but it isn't spreading or causing any symptoms. Mom has an appointment scheduled to have a consultation about getting the genetic testing done to see if she has the BRAC gene. She will know more in a couple of weeks.

Last Saturday Mom came over to help out at the 5K race that my friend Jayna and I coordinate - the Steve's Old Time Tap Spring Chaser. It was a beautiful day - not too cold and not too hot and not too windy. She stayed in the Packet Pick Up area for quite awhile and then came outside to enjoy the race - and get harassed by my hubs and his twin brother. They razz her all the time (about the cough!) and like to tease her into a trap of saying who she likes the best...Tom or Tim. Of course they both had cigars going as their race duties were at a standstill until the runners were off the course. Mom takes it all in stride and has a lot of fun with them. She was a nurse for three decades so she knows how to handle ornery people.
Tom, Mom and Tim at the Spring Chaser

Monday, April 22, 2013

Return to Ransom

Alaina and her big cake!
Mom and I took a trip to Ransom this weekend. Cousin Alaina's 50th Birthday was yesterday, so we went to church and then out to lunch to celebrate. Alaina is also a newly-minted grandmother to Rayland James who arrived earlier than expected. So technically she was a grandmother at 49! Mom made Alaina an apron, placemats and hot pad out of dog print material (for Ginger the dog).

Ransom (mom's hometown) is relatively the same. Population 400. The downtown pretty much consists of a couple of bars, the post office, war veteran memorial with a grain elevator at the end. My grandpa Glenn McCann built that grain elevator with an ungodly amount of concrete. Mom said she remembered when he was working on the job and mentioned how much grandma would worry about him working 24/7 to pour the concrete and get it done. And there it still stands.
The grain elevator.

We went out to the cemetery before church to check on grandma and grandpa's grave. We didn't stay very long because it was just too windy. As long as I can remember there have not been many still days in Ransom (and grandma and grandpa's farm outside of town) because it has always been windy. And now, energy companies have tapped into all of that flat farmland because wind turbines are surrounding the town - everywhere the eye can see. It's really bizarre.

Mom is getting her labs done this a.m. and then she has her monthly appointment with Dr. Porubcin next Monday. Hopefully the news will continue to be good news. We have had a run of bad news in the family lately - cousin Heather was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer a few months ago. She went through surgery and is now going through chemo. Heather is younger than I am - and her diagnosis has mom rethinking the genetic testing. Our family (mom's side) really hasn't had a lot of cancer (breast, gynecologic) so if there's something there now I guess we'll find out.

One thing we do know is that prayers do work wonders... it was nice to see mom's name in the Ransom church bulletin for prayers (as well as Heather's name) and that is the one constant that doesn't have anything to do with insurance, drugs or doctors visits but has had the most impact IMO.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Port maintenance

Mom made her standard 6 week trip to Trinity on Monday to have them check her port and attempt to flush it out. No real difference from the last time - the port is still letting fluid through but there isn't much of a return, so the nurses will just keep an eye on it for the next time. Mom has her labs scheduled for April 22 and then we will visit with Dr. Porubcin on the 29th for an update.

Mom and I are going to make a trip back to Ransom next Sunday. Cousin Alaina is "celebrating" her 50th birthday - and the word celebrating is a loose definition as I don't think she wanted a big to-do... but you know how those AUNTS are. Mom and the rest of her sisters want to celebrate us children getting older, so celebrate Alaina's birthday we will do.

So the plan is to go to the Ransom church first thing for the Sunday service (9:30 a.m.), and then head to Applebee's in Ottawa for lunch. If that doesn't scream "Happy 50th Birthday" I don't know what does. Pictures to follow.