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Saturday, February 6, 2010

Home nursing care

My mother's primary care doctor set up a home nursing care for us. The woman will come once a week at whatever time is good for us (most likely after my aunt is home). She will check her blood pressure and other vitals, make sure she's OK. There are many helpful things that a medical professional knows that no amount of research can replace. Sure Khalamoni, Apu and I are doing well managing her medications, doctor's appointments etc. but it gives us a piece of mind to know someone is looking in on her.

Mom is back to eating solids, chicken, very squishy rice, soup. I've found she really likes to nibble on ice cubes. Instead of just plain ice cubes Apu and I thought she could have popsicles made of Gatorade so that she can get electrolytes. Today I made some out of pomegranate juice.

Like I've said before vegetables are hard for anyone to digest (i.e. we don't produce an enzyme naturally to break down cellulose) so it's even harder for her because she's not even making regular pancreatic enzymes.

This week we have an appointment at Dana Farber on Tuesday the 9th. It will not be the chemotherapy infusion, it will be a physical with her oncologist, some blood work to look at her chemistry and do a complete blood count. This will show a before and after picture of how her body is reacting to the chemo drugs. There have been advances in chemotherapy so they are not as harsh as before. The nurse that visited mom today did say she worked in a cancer ward for a long time and administered chemo. She said the first thing to beware of is the extreme fatigue. Anemia is a side effect of chemo so that leads to the fatigue (partially). She said not everyone looses their hair.

The loss of hair, though traumatic for some, I can live with (she owns several colorful headscarves/. I don't know how she feels about that possibility; I am sure she will make some amazing joke about it. She is quite a witty woman underneath her reserved exterior :-) But I worry most about the nausea returning. It was very difficult to watch her vomit for two weeks straight. I do not want that to return (I know I speak for the family as well, that they feel the same way I do). She is already compromised, and her strength is clearly not what it used to be.

Anyway, we'll just burn that bridge when we get there. I need to not over-think things.
I hope she is better tomorrow. Yesterday she was fine but of course I was at work and didn't see her well. Today I was home with her and she felt uneasy and a little queasy all day.

Tomorrow we are expecting one family to visit. It will brighten her spirits and will distract from any mild pain/unease.

The family truly appreciates your prayers and thoughts.

1 comment:

  1. I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.

    -ck

    ReplyDelete