I first off want to tell you all thank you so much for your prayers, I know they have helped!
Last Tuesday Sept. 9 mom was scheduled for another MRI. We were a little worried because she has been really sick and down for the last 6 weeks or so. Because she has been so sick her depression has gotten really bad. It was hard to know what to say to her because you just felt so bad for her. It has been a tough couple of months for us all. We have all been praying for her to start feeling a little better and to hear good news from the doctors.
Tuesday I went to pick mom up around 10 and I could see a definite change in her. She was up and dressed and walking pretty well. I was shocked! When I saw her the Saturday before she could barely walk two steps by herself and she looked like she had no life in her. I looked at her and said, "You look great!" She said I feel so much better today! I was so relieved and thankful to see her this way. As we were driving to the hospital she told me that she was laying in bed last night and all of the sudden she just started feeling better. She said it was a like a switch went off in her. Her nausea and headaches started going away and she could feel strength coming back into her body. She said it was the strangest thing but that she just all around felt better. She woke up the next morning and felt even better. I was so thankful for answers to prayers that day! She was acting more like herself and we had a great ride up to the doctor. She was laughing and joking with my sister and I! Before her last MRI she was really nervous but before this one she was as calm as could be.
We get her MRI's done at the Huntsman clinic in South Jordan and then we head up to the Huntsman in Salt Lake to meet with her doctors and get the results. We do this because the South Jordan clinic is usually faster and less busy for MRI's and it also gives them time to get the results and look through them while we head up there to her appointment.
They were behind at the MRI place and we had to wait almost an hour before mom got in for hers. We were there for quite a while and we knew that it would make us late her doctors in appt in Salt Lake. So when she finished I hurried out to get the van so I could pick her up at the door while Mel helped her walk out. I get to the front door and I couldn't see them anywhere. I was a little confused because they weren't that far behind me. I then got a call from Mel saying that mom wanted something to eat! Really?! We were both shocked since we have hardly been able to get her to eat anything for a while now and she has never said that she was hungry and asked for something! Mel said as they were walking to the door mom saw someone walking out with a quesadilla from the grill right there on the main floor of the hospital. She looked at it and said that looks really good, I think I need one of those! Mel just looked at her and laughed. So Mel ran and got her one and we headed to Salt Lake. She ate almost the whole thing and said it tasted sooo good! We knew she was feeling better!
We finally made it to her appointment an hour and a half late and got her lab work done. The doctor came in and talked to us for a little bit and said she looked pretty good and asked her how things were going. We told her that today she was doing great but the last couple months have been horrible. So we talked to them for a while about everything that had been going on. So they decided to up her anti-depressant a little and one of her seizure meds since she's still having some of those. They also tried her on a new nausea med that she had started a few days before her appointment, which is what we think is helping her feel a little better, and they are going to start taking her off of the steroid. They then told us that the MRI looked great! They said that they didn't see any growing and they didn't see any cells that looked active. The treatment was working and doing what it was suppose to! We were so relieved to hear that, our prayers were answered again!! We initially thought that the treatments were suppose to shrink the tumor but it sounds like they're just trying to kill the cells that spread from the original tumor. They removed a small portion of the small olive sized tumor when they did her biopsy. There were cells that had spread off of her main tumor and in all it was about the size of an egg. So they said with this last scan that it looked about the same which means that it wasn't growing and spreading any more. The treatment has been killing the cells that have spread from her original tumor and so nothing has gotten bigger and nothing is actively growing! They also said that her labs came back and her levels looked good! More Great News!
Since her appointment mom has continued to do good. She still can't be up a lot and she gets tired really easily but at least she's able to get up and do a little bit here and there. I spent a good couple of days with mom last week. She called me up on Thursday and said she wanted to go shopping. I was happy to hear her want to get out and so we went to pick up her meds and do a little shopping. She wanted to throw a birthday party for my nephew because she wasn't able to see him on his birthday. We went to one store and then she was done. She was tired so we took her home to sleep. She was so much more like herself and it was great to see her up and around a little bit. The next day she called me again to go shopping. I was again surprised but happy to take her where she wanted to go. We went to one store and she barely made it 10 min. because her legs felt really weak. She was sad because she wanted to go to a few more stores. So we decided we would go to one more store quickly to get the rest of the groceries for the party and head home. As we went into Costco she said she didn't think she could make it. So I told her to go sit down and I would go get her a riding cart or a wheelchair. Side note: every time mom as been sick or tired I've tried to get her to use one of those and she always refuses! She says it't too embarrassing and that she can just walk or not go. Well I was going to make her use one whether she liked it or not! :) So I ran to get a mobilized cart but they were all gone so I grabbed a wheel chair and a shopping cart and we had a great time just walking around Costco. I was pushing her wheelchair dragging a cart behind me! It was awesome! We originally tried just having mom hold the groceries on her lap thinking we only needed a few things until she was covered in groceries and we still needed more. We had a good laugh about that, so I ran to get a cart and we made it work! We finished and made it to the car and she said thank you for getting the wheelchair. She said she wouldn't have made it walking and she was happy to still be out. She decided she wanted to go to one more store so we headed to Wal-mart. This time there was no arguing about getting a riding cart! I think she finally realized that it wasn't so bad and she can be out and doing a lot more rather than trying to walk everywhere. We did have a good laugh though when she was trying to figure out how to drive it!! :) Then halfway through our shopping trip the battery died and she was stranded in the clothing section until I finished getting a few more things and ran back to get another riding cart. I got some pretty funny looks riding that thing when I looked completely normal! Oh well, it was all worth it! We had a great couple of days and it was so nice to spend a little time with mom and seeing her smile and joke a little bit again.
So thank you all again for your continued prayers and support through all of this. We truly were blessed with great news and a great week after a rough couple months. Her headaches are almost gone, her seizures are getting better under control, she's eating more, and she's able to get up and do a few things here and there! Her short term memory is being affected by the tumor because of where it is but I think were all getting used to that! She asks us every 10 min what day it is but we have a good laugh about it! If that's all we have to deal with we'll feel very blessed! She starts another round of chemo again today and they're still taking her off of her steroid which we're hoping she will handle better this time, so keep your prayers coming, we can definitely feel them. They give all of us such peace and comfort and I know that it means a lot to mom! She loves you all!
Her next scan won't be for two more months so she'll just keep on her chemo treatments and hopefully the tweak in her meds will make her feel even better!
