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".

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Bad Weekend

4/29/12 Sunday

I went back to mom's around 10pm last night to check her bandage and her drain progress. Well, I had hoped for better results than what I found. Mom said it drained really good for about 2 hours after Kathy left her and then it stopped.
I tried back flushing it and was able to devise a method of free flowing the bile into a bucket. This method was working very well. In a matter of minutes there was an inch in the bucket. I asked Kent to check on it and close the bags drain when he went to bed.
6am Sunday morning mom awoke to a full bag! But her pain was none the better, in fact, it was worse.
I went over at 8:30 to check her bandage and it was still holding and not leaking. Mom hasn't eaten solid food since Friday night, so I made her a protein shake. She said the first 2 sips were ok but then it tasted like cardboard. This is generally a yummy shake! Protein powder, Herbalife meal replacement powder (chocolate), pineapple, strawberries and almond milk. She didn't want anymore after that. I feel so bad for her. She said she was going to try sticking it out till tomorrow.
It's 3:30 now and no news from mom since this morning. I'll check in with her again around 6 when she has her next round of pain pills. Hopefully she'll be feeling some better.
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