Introduction

Welcome to my blog about my mom, Loretta, and our journey through learning of her cancer and treatment.

Just a little background. Mom is 61 and hadn't been to a doctor in about 18 years until this past June 2011. The reason for this is due to the surmountable cost of insurance, even when your spouse has insurance it can be cost prohibitive.
So, Mom finally got approved by JPS in June and it was a good thing too, she had Basil cell carcinoma on the bridge of her nose. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor and plastic surgery reconstruction. She also has high blood pressure and Thyroid problems. We thought she was finally getting the attention she was missing and was going to be OK. Boy were we mistaken.
Mom started having some abdominal pain the first of January 2012. After talking with her and the pain getting worse, she finally agreed that she needed to go to the clinic or ER.
The following blog posts chronicle the events since then. Future posts will continue to explain treatment, issues concerning her condition and general comments.
I appreciate you taking the time to learn about what it means to be diagnosed and this type of cancer. Mom has been a trooper so far, she says "I'll beat this".

Thursday, February 23, 2012

A Visit to the ER

2/23/12 - Thursday
Here we are, on the eve of leaving for Tulsa and Mom's doctor calls and says "your blood labs don't look too good, please go to the ER"
GEEZ, really??? So, we get here, they do more blood work and she is anemic. Normal level is 12-16 and Mom's a whopping 4.5!
That being said, observation here we come for a couple units of blood. Dr did say she can check out and still make it to Tulsa!! I'm excited that we may still be going, but only if she's ok.

UPDATE
2/24/12 - Friday
Mom was all done with her transfusion at 9am this morning and try released her. I got her appt changed to 2:30pm.
We made it to St John's at 2:45 and they held her appt for us. Phew!
Dr Cody Ho met with us, explained his course of treatment and wrote down his choice of chemo drugs for her treatment as well. His concern with her having treatment there was cost and that she would have 2 months of daily radiation and chemo and she isn't living locally. He gave us some resources to check out closer to home.
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