Wednesday, March 27, 2013

One Day at a Time

Two days after getting back, my mom went in for chemo. She explained about her pain during her trip here and the Doctor decided to change up some of the meds and put her more in control over which at home meds she needed. During the infusion she broke out in a red rash. After stopping the chemo, the nurse talked to the doctor,and gave my mom Benadryl then waited a half hour. When she started the chemo again, it began with a slower drip and gradually built up to the normal flow. She was fine, but the Benadryl of course made her sleep. We'll see how she handles the side effects this week! Now that she has shown hypersensitivity to the oxaliplatin, she will need benadryl, or something like it, each time she goes in for chemo. The nurse said this hypersensitivity doesn't happen when you first start chemo but down the line several rounds later. Your body finally says, "Ok! I've had enough, I don't like you" and the Benadryl calms it down.

It's a watch and see situation. She may tolerate it just fine with Benedryl or something similar or she may just get to the point of not tolerating it anymore. Her numbers have gone down to 365, so they are moving in the right direction. Also, her white blood cell count was low so they gave her a shot to boost her white blood cells and told her to expect to be in pain for a couple of weeks.

In other news, I am hearing the new wood floor is beautiful! It was hard for my mom to be 3,000 miles away  while they laid the new floor from the water damage. (See here) I still can't believe that happened. A special thanks to all those who helped my parents with that. It is so comforting to know they have incredible friends who love them and would help out any way they can!

Everything works out one way or the other. Life is not suppose to be easy, of course. I know where to find peace. I know I am loved and hard things are for my growth. For all the 'surprises' in our lives, here's to taking one day at a time and getting good perspective from it.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the update Valerie! You and your mom are absolutely amazing! HUGS.

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