So my mom and I have this ritual and it’s been going on for at least 3 months. Whenever she has a treatment or doctor’s appointment (more often than not) we stop for lunch, ice cream, coffee, shopping, whatever. She says it’s her way of doing something for me since I give up so much of my time – whatever mom! But there is no fighting her on this – chemo or not, she can still take her shoe off and smack me up side the head!
Now, we’ve been to some places that have really grown on her: Pei Wei Asian Diner, Snuffer’s (the cheddar cheese fries alone can cure what ails you) and Paciugo for Italian gelato and since her treatments are not everyday, I can still button my pants! When radiation starts, we’ll probably make Starbucks Coffee our ritual.
SO we are sitting in Pei Wei today and she looks over at me and looks a bit concerned. I asked her what was wrong. And she told me she was going to miss being with me all the time. Since, I am not the type to miss a golden opportunity to use my sharp wit … I told her, “I hear you …I’m going to miss all these free lunches. I may have to start cruising the neighborhood for old people who need a ride. This could be a pretty lucrative side business.”
That’s twice I have made her shoot soda out of her nose – it’s all in a days work!
Seriously, I told her that we would still do lunches as often as she wanted to and as long as I could comfortably button my pants! :)
The moral of this story, as I have said before, cancer sucks, but I have to say that I have enjoyed the time I have gotten to be with my mom and the opportunity to make her shoot carbonated beverages out of her nose. Her cancer has given us yet another gift, the ability to spend a lot of time together not just as mother and daughter, but as friends.
Life is good!
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
I Could Have Been a Doctor
Yeah…right…I already confessed that I am a sympathetic puker! But I got the greatest compliment from Dr. Macko (my mom’s radiologist) today.
She pulled me aside in the hall and asked if I had a background in medicine!? At first, I thought she was going to finish the sentence with “then hush and let me do my job”, but she said the way I rattled off my mom’s chemo drugs, blood counts and treatment plan so far, she figured that I had a background in medicine!
I told her, absolutely not. I have just been listing very astutely since August to what each and every doctor has said and filed it into my little brain box! She said she was very impressed.
Of course the way my mom perked-up and grinned, you would have thought I had a degree in medicine. And to think, when she first had surgery I thought I was doing good to mimic a Candy Striper!
Just goes to show … how important it is to pay attention and ask questions. It makes you a better cancer supporter.
She pulled me aside in the hall and asked if I had a background in medicine!? At first, I thought she was going to finish the sentence with “then hush and let me do my job”, but she said the way I rattled off my mom’s chemo drugs, blood counts and treatment plan so far, she figured that I had a background in medicine!
I told her, absolutely not. I have just been listing very astutely since August to what each and every doctor has said and filed it into my little brain box! She said she was very impressed.
Of course the way my mom perked-up and grinned, you would have thought I had a degree in medicine. And to think, when she first had surgery I thought I was doing good to mimic a Candy Striper!
Just goes to show … how important it is to pay attention and ask questions. It makes you a better cancer supporter.
She Radiates
Today was our radiation “meet and greet” with Dr. Macko – who happens to be a very sweet woman …again, compassionate and caring as well as knowledgeable.
We spent at least 5 hours with her. The first few hours were the standard question and answer session followed by what to expect from the radiation.
Since my mom went through radiation back in 1998 when she had breast cancer, this is a place in our journey that she is familiar with. While there are a lot of things to know, its’ not as much as with the chemo and the side affects are not as prevalent.
The big thing will be tiredness. They say it takes a year to fully recovery from the surgery and I am sure that the body is still a little out of what from the chemo.
Good news is that we only have to do 25 treatments. They initially predicted 33, but I learned an interesting thing today. They base the length of radiation of the part of the body/organ they are targeting. They now exactly how many treatments an area can take before you (for lack of a better word) over cook it.
We start on Monday, January 8th and pretty much go non-stop, every week, until mid-February. Since this is winter in Texas, if we get a round of bad weather and miss a day, they tack it on at the end – kind of like a radiation snow day!
Of course, I did tell mom that I could stand her in front of the microwave, with the door open, and set the timer…I mean if it’s good enough to cook a potato than its good enough for my mom! (I’m kidding of course.)
Mom got her markings today. They basically lay you on a giant wooden bed, take x-rays and mark the precise spots with a Sharpie and tattoo ink exactly where the radiation beams will hit each and every time. It’s pretty interesting how they can pinpoint the exact placement and while it took almost an hour to mark her up, this will make her actual treatments go much quicker.
They are going to radiate four sides (front, back and both sides) for a few minutes each. They expect each treatment to last about 30 minutes from the time we get her situated to the time we walk out the door – not bad!
So mom is going to relax around the house until Monday and then we hit the ground running.
Love to you all and I will keep you updated!
We spent at least 5 hours with her. The first few hours were the standard question and answer session followed by what to expect from the radiation.
Since my mom went through radiation back in 1998 when she had breast cancer, this is a place in our journey that she is familiar with. While there are a lot of things to know, its’ not as much as with the chemo and the side affects are not as prevalent.
The big thing will be tiredness. They say it takes a year to fully recovery from the surgery and I am sure that the body is still a little out of what from the chemo.
Good news is that we only have to do 25 treatments. They initially predicted 33, but I learned an interesting thing today. They base the length of radiation of the part of the body/organ they are targeting. They now exactly how many treatments an area can take before you (for lack of a better word) over cook it.
We start on Monday, January 8th and pretty much go non-stop, every week, until mid-February. Since this is winter in Texas, if we get a round of bad weather and miss a day, they tack it on at the end – kind of like a radiation snow day!
Of course, I did tell mom that I could stand her in front of the microwave, with the door open, and set the timer…I mean if it’s good enough to cook a potato than its good enough for my mom! (I’m kidding of course.)
Mom got her markings today. They basically lay you on a giant wooden bed, take x-rays and mark the precise spots with a Sharpie and tattoo ink exactly where the radiation beams will hit each and every time. It’s pretty interesting how they can pinpoint the exact placement and while it took almost an hour to mark her up, this will make her actual treatments go much quicker.
They are going to radiate four sides (front, back and both sides) for a few minutes each. They expect each treatment to last about 30 minutes from the time we get her situated to the time we walk out the door – not bad!
So mom is going to relax around the house until Monday and then we hit the ground running.
Love to you all and I will keep you updated!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)