Monday, June 30, 2014

Summertime reunion

Mom has been a little more fatigued than usual after chemo treatments this time around, but last week she had a pretty good week. Dr. Porubcin gave her the clear to go back to choir so that makes things a little better. Her feet are pretty raw and she has to keep them on ice sometimes, but she's keeping up with it so they look the way they look. That is one of the side effects of Doxil and something to deal with.

It has been a busy June. Weekend before last we went to Iowa City for a wedding - good friends Bill and Nancy Craig's grandson Brandon married his high school sweetheart at the Old Capitol. The Craig's and lived right "up the hill" from us when we lived in the Hazelwoods, and mom and Nancy have been friends for ages. Bill and dad were friends as well and their entire family stepped up quite a bit after dad died. They are usually the first ones I call if I need to talk to them about mom.

Then last weekend was the McCann/Brewick Family Reunion was at the Ottawa Lions Club park. There were a handful of us there and it was a nice day to spend in the park. Mom's cousin Virgil's cousin David (from the Brewick side) was in town with his wife Kay from Colorado. The other usual McCann suspects were there - Peggy and Ron, Aunt Carol, Aunt Rosemary & Uncle Steve, Alaina, Baby Rayland and myself. It was nice to see cousin Janie (Brewick) and her girls Carly and Gracie as well as cousin Melissa (Brewick) ((haven't seen her in years now she has a family!)) and then distant? cousin Scott (I think he's a cousin from some branch of the family) and his mom Beth. They are from a McCann but I always forget if it's Mabel or Mildred.

I just saw Linda and Sonny a couple of weeks ago as they came to Rock Island for a festival, so it was like we were old friends.

In July mom and I are heading to Indiana for cousin Jeremy's wedding. We are both looking forward to that as we haven't met Greg and Demara's little girl Aurora. Mom couldn't get enough of the twins the last time they were around and she is looking forward to being around the little tikes.

If things go well for the rest of the summer she may look into a couple of trips here and there. Why not?

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Chemo reschedule

Mom was scheduled to have another dose of Doxil today, however Dr. Porubcin thought that it was best to reschedule it for next Tuesday. Mom's CA125 was great - (8!) - however she is coming to a point where she is reaching the maximum amount of Doxil that she can have.

Apparently there is a "lifetime maximum dose" (I learn something new each time it seems) for the amount of Doxil mom can have put in her body before it starts doing damage to her heart. Often I forget that chemo drugs are designed to kill - and yes they kill cancers but the chemo drugs also do damage to tissues that aren't cancerous. So the long and the short of it is that she is approaching that "lifetime max." Dr. Porubcin wants to stretch out this timeframe as much as possible so that Mom can get the most benefit out of the drug.

Dr. Porubcin is very happy with the results from the last two doses. Mom's CA125 has dropped considerably. Unfortunately the side effects (like her blistering feet) are happening just as fast as well. Her feet were bothering her a lot over the weekend as the heat and humidity intensifies the rash. The good part is that she isn't really having to many other issues.

So mom will have her third Doxil dose next Tuesday, and then in July she is going to try and schedule it so that it can be done after nephew Jeremy's wedding. We have a wedding to go to later in June as well so if we can get through this wedding season she should be sitting good for the rest of the year!