"A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty Hi-Ho, Cancer…Away! Return with us now to those thrilling treatments of yesteryear. ChemoSabe rides again!"
Okay, so perhaps I “adjusted” the original Lone Ranger intro to suite my needs, but what do you expect…after all, these are the ChemoSabe Chronicles. ;o)
Today I arrived at Casa de Longo to take mom to her oncologist. I figured pop could use a little break and Mom and I were well overdue for a lunch date…even though she sees me, Andy and pop everyday, sometimes it’s good just to get out and mingle with non-Longos. :o)
We arrived at the Dream Team’s office only to be greeted like the prodigal son. There were hugs and kisses and numerous conversations to bring everyone up to speed on what has been going on since her last radiation. What should have been our follow-up visit after completing radiation was more of a shortened version of the classic board game Clue as we tried to figure out why momisan was draining fluid. It was nodes, in the Pelvic Room with Lymph Fluid!
It turns out that my super sleuthing was correct. Mom does indeed have a condition called lymphocele. Since her surgery required that the lymph nodes be removed from the pelvis, there is really no place for that fluid to go. It should be absorbed by the body, but due to the radiation, it may have temporarily impeded the body from doing that. Which in turn caused the pelvic mass of fluid – it was like a lymph system traffic jam.
Her oncologist said that as long as the drainage tube was in, the fluid would continue to drain. But if we remove the drainage tube, the body may now have the ability to absorb the fluid and the only way to tell was to remove the drain and then watch her carefully for any signs of swelling. The condition may or may not be re-occurring, but we won’t know for a few months.
Before we could schedule a time for momisan to have the tube removed, her oncologist wanted to confer with the infectious disease doctor one last time. He would not give a directive for removal until he knew that there was no sigh of sepsis, infection or any other bacteria in the fluid or in her blood. If the lymph fluid was just that, clear lymphatic fluid, then we could take the tube out with no worries. I am happy to report that her oncologist confirmed that everything is good and we have scheduled the procedure for Monday afternoon. The interventional radiologist should have her in and out by dinner time as it is a relatively simple and quick procedure.
As far as her Cancer treatment goes, she will indeed have to have another round of chemo. But right now, her body needs time to heel from battling this infection. Even her oncologist said she looks a little tired so the best thing to do was to post-pone the final round of chemo for thirty days. I am sure mom was a little disappointed that she had to have another round, but she knows that she has come too far to turn back now.
Someone once asked me how someone her age, can fight so hard…and the answer is simple. She does it for me. She does it for Andy. During her most recent hospital stay, she told me that she often prays to God to get her through another day because of all the time and love that we have invested in her. It’s not that we didn’t do it before she got sick, but for those of you who have traveled down this same path, you know that your love and devotion is magnified to a much higher level – a level that you didn’t think existed. That’s why she fights. In her mind she feels that she owes it to us. She fights to see her granddaughters play softball or to come over for Nan and Pop day. She fights in the hopes to see another grandchild soon. Now, I don’t say that to imply that we are expecting anything in return or feel that mom owes us something, or to portray us as some horn tooting, Cancer martyrs; but for anyone who has ever been beside someone fighting Cancer, you know that they get from day to day by fighting for something or someone that they love – Mom fights for us and I think that is one hell of an honor.
I am sure I will be on pins and needles for the next thirty-days. Mom and I talked about having to post-pone her treatment and I think she was concerned that she might have to start it all over again. She also posed the question that by waiting; it might cause the Cancer to rear its ugly head again because we have not yet completed the entire treatment plan that was developed for her in the beginning. But her oncologist said that since we completed three rounds of chemo and 25 radiation treatments and her last CT scan was clean, that the odds are currently in our favor. Our biggest hurdle is mom’s age. You can’t pound an eighty year old woman with treatments because as strong as she is, her body needs a break. So please join us in saying a few extra prayers this month that the good Lord will keep her in a holding pattern and just allow her to rest and get stronger to face her final round.
We ended the day by grabbing a little lunch and as we were discussing the days events, we were soon surrounded by the cops…okay, just one…Andy. He stopped by to join our little lunch gang and once again, I sat back and pondered my world. My head was replaying something mom had said earlier in the day – “A lot of wonderful things have come out of this journey” and you know, she is right. As I have often said numerous times before, the things that we consider as a curse sometimes hold the greatest blessings. Today, I am a better daughter, wife, sister and human being. All of our relationships have changed. Some for the better and some...well, let's just move on. The most important thing is that majority have proven to each other that when times are tough, we will be there to comfort, inspire and love one another…that’s what family does.
I have often heard people say that we should live our life with no regrets. For some that means having more material things than living life by the “Golden Rule.” Some believe he/she with the most toys in the end wins. But the truth of the matter is that those who are always trying to simply do the right thing are the ones who truly understand that is the only way to live life with no regrets.
Okay, so perhaps I “adjusted” the original Lone Ranger intro to suite my needs, but what do you expect…after all, these are the ChemoSabe Chronicles. ;o)
Today I arrived at Casa de Longo to take mom to her oncologist. I figured pop could use a little break and Mom and I were well overdue for a lunch date…even though she sees me, Andy and pop everyday, sometimes it’s good just to get out and mingle with non-Longos. :o)
We arrived at the Dream Team’s office only to be greeted like the prodigal son. There were hugs and kisses and numerous conversations to bring everyone up to speed on what has been going on since her last radiation. What should have been our follow-up visit after completing radiation was more of a shortened version of the classic board game Clue as we tried to figure out why momisan was draining fluid. It was nodes, in the Pelvic Room with Lymph Fluid!
It turns out that my super sleuthing was correct. Mom does indeed have a condition called lymphocele. Since her surgery required that the lymph nodes be removed from the pelvis, there is really no place for that fluid to go. It should be absorbed by the body, but due to the radiation, it may have temporarily impeded the body from doing that. Which in turn caused the pelvic mass of fluid – it was like a lymph system traffic jam.
Her oncologist said that as long as the drainage tube was in, the fluid would continue to drain. But if we remove the drainage tube, the body may now have the ability to absorb the fluid and the only way to tell was to remove the drain and then watch her carefully for any signs of swelling. The condition may or may not be re-occurring, but we won’t know for a few months.
Before we could schedule a time for momisan to have the tube removed, her oncologist wanted to confer with the infectious disease doctor one last time. He would not give a directive for removal until he knew that there was no sigh of sepsis, infection or any other bacteria in the fluid or in her blood. If the lymph fluid was just that, clear lymphatic fluid, then we could take the tube out with no worries. I am happy to report that her oncologist confirmed that everything is good and we have scheduled the procedure for Monday afternoon. The interventional radiologist should have her in and out by dinner time as it is a relatively simple and quick procedure.
As far as her Cancer treatment goes, she will indeed have to have another round of chemo. But right now, her body needs time to heel from battling this infection. Even her oncologist said she looks a little tired so the best thing to do was to post-pone the final round of chemo for thirty days. I am sure mom was a little disappointed that she had to have another round, but she knows that she has come too far to turn back now.
Someone once asked me how someone her age, can fight so hard…and the answer is simple. She does it for me. She does it for Andy. During her most recent hospital stay, she told me that she often prays to God to get her through another day because of all the time and love that we have invested in her. It’s not that we didn’t do it before she got sick, but for those of you who have traveled down this same path, you know that your love and devotion is magnified to a much higher level – a level that you didn’t think existed. That’s why she fights. In her mind she feels that she owes it to us. She fights to see her granddaughters play softball or to come over for Nan and Pop day. She fights in the hopes to see another grandchild soon. Now, I don’t say that to imply that we are expecting anything in return or feel that mom owes us something, or to portray us as some horn tooting, Cancer martyrs; but for anyone who has ever been beside someone fighting Cancer, you know that they get from day to day by fighting for something or someone that they love – Mom fights for us and I think that is one hell of an honor.
I am sure I will be on pins and needles for the next thirty-days. Mom and I talked about having to post-pone her treatment and I think she was concerned that she might have to start it all over again. She also posed the question that by waiting; it might cause the Cancer to rear its ugly head again because we have not yet completed the entire treatment plan that was developed for her in the beginning. But her oncologist said that since we completed three rounds of chemo and 25 radiation treatments and her last CT scan was clean, that the odds are currently in our favor. Our biggest hurdle is mom’s age. You can’t pound an eighty year old woman with treatments because as strong as she is, her body needs a break. So please join us in saying a few extra prayers this month that the good Lord will keep her in a holding pattern and just allow her to rest and get stronger to face her final round.
We ended the day by grabbing a little lunch and as we were discussing the days events, we were soon surrounded by the cops…okay, just one…Andy. He stopped by to join our little lunch gang and once again, I sat back and pondered my world. My head was replaying something mom had said earlier in the day – “A lot of wonderful things have come out of this journey” and you know, she is right. As I have often said numerous times before, the things that we consider as a curse sometimes hold the greatest blessings. Today, I am a better daughter, wife, sister and human being. All of our relationships have changed. Some for the better and some...well, let's just move on. The most important thing is that majority have proven to each other that when times are tough, we will be there to comfort, inspire and love one another…that’s what family does.
I have often heard people say that we should live our life with no regrets. For some that means having more material things than living life by the “Golden Rule.” Some believe he/she with the most toys in the end wins. But the truth of the matter is that those who are always trying to simply do the right thing are the ones who truly understand that is the only way to live life with no regrets.
For the next thirty days, momisan will get some rest and her body will have time to recover. Who knows, maybe in a few weeks we will take her on a little road trip (close to home) just to add a little fun and adventure into the mix. As always we thank each of you for the phones calls, emails, personal visits, letters and cards – Casa de Longo is looking like a Hallmark annex but mom can feel the love and well wishes from each and every one of you.
Blessing to you all!
ChemoSabe
