Thanks for praying for "a good tomorrow." It worked! Mom's day today didn't get off to the best start (her dinner from last night came back up at 6:30 this morning), but it all went uphill from there. :-)
Dr. B says food is her best medicine right now, and of course the last thing Mom wanted to do today was eat. But she gave it her best shot. She was able to eat a little bit of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and she kept it all down! She's still on IV fluids because her electrolytes aren't totally normal. Her drains are keeping the fluid off her abdomen, and she can breathe so much better now. We're not sure if she'll have to take the drains home with her or not, but I'm thinking she probably will. Mom did great with her walking today and even got to go outside (we let her ride in a wheelchair for that trip, though)! She was actually feeling so good that we took the "no visitors" sign off the door! Yes, you can come visit. :-) If you want to visit, we do ask that you try to keep your visit short (Mom will definitely let you know if she's feeling up for a longer visit). She still gets tired easily and we never know when pain or nausea is going to hit her, so it's a good idea to call or text before coming, just to make sure she's having a good day.
Dr. Tauer (oncologist) came by again this morning, and I asked him about a drug I've read about called Tarceva. Similar to Herceptin, which Mom has received for breast cancer for the last six years, Tarceva is a drug that targets cancer cells that contain a certain protein (in this case, EGFR - epidermal growth factor receptor 1). Targeted therapies like Herceptin and Tarceva don't have the severe side effects that chemo does, because they don't affect healthy cells. Obviously, we've had great success with Herceptin. We hope Mom will be able to receive Tarceva and have great success with that drug as well. Dr. Tauer is still waiting on more pathology results before he'll know if Tarceva is an option for Mom. She'll receive chemo no matter what, but the more options we have, the better. As far as her breast cancer goes, she'll start getting her Herceptin again as soon as Dr. Tauer will let her, probably shortly after she's released from the hospital.
Dr. B came by tonight and said once he's sure she's got the eating thing down, he'll let her go home (provided, of course, that her infection is totally gone and her electrolytes are in check). He's now saying that he might send her home on Saturday; Mom's saying Friday. We'll see who wins. ;-)
Prayer requests for today . . . that Mom will be able to eat more food and tolerate it . . . that her infection will completely disappear . . . that she'll have no other complications . . . that she'll have as little pain as possible (she hasn't had any pain meds since 6:30 this morning, by the way) . . . that she'll be a candidate for treatment with Tarceva . . . that God will keep all kinds of cancer out of Mom's body for the rest of her life . . . and that others will see Jesus through this journey and come to know Him more.
I can't say enough thank you's to all our friends and church family who are taking care of all of us right now. We love you all so much!
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