Oncologist meeting

OK, I bet many of you have been saying, "What the heck is with this Eddie guy? Lauren did much better." I am sorry that the blog has taken the back burner for a little while. It was a bit crazy for a little while as we had a pretty full day.

I flew in last night. My flight got delayed from a 9:40 PM arrival to a 12:15 AM arrival. I then had to get a car, and drive to the medical center. All told, I got in about 1:00 AM and finally got to see my post operative mom. She looked and sounded good. She was feeling well, and all vitals were OK. We chatted for a bit, and then finally cashed out at about 2:00 AM.

We woke up a few times that night as it was the first time since surgery that the catheter was out. So, she woke up to go to the bathroom. Great sign.

In the morning, the vitals were again good. And, we got the glorious sound we had all been waiting for - gas! :-) She also had her first bowel movement this morning. Looks like all plumbing is working properly!

Because she felt well, and things were working as intended, she was cleared to check out of the hospital. We decided to stay in the room until after the oncology appointment, which was schedule to be at 1:00 pm.

At that point (about 10:30 AM), Cathy stayed with Kathie, and I drove Lynette and the twins to a long time friend of mine - Eileen. Eileen had offered to watch the girls so that Lynette could attend the oncology appt. What a blessing! Thanks, Eileen! Well, she got more than she bargained for as the appt and exit from the hospital went anything but quickly. 8-9 hours later, we finally got back to pick up the kids.

At 1:00 pm, we checked in for the oncology appt. We didn't actually see a nurse until about 2:30. We didn't see Dr. Cathy Eng (oncologist) until 3:00 pm. She came in ready to address the main issue at hand - how to handle the liver and systemic involvement of the cancer.

Essentially, there were 2 treatment paths that Dr. Eng believed gave her the best chance of longer term survival. The "common names" are FOLFOX and FOLFIRI. Either one of these mixed with Avastin were the recommended paths. The choice came down to side effects and which ones sounded better to Kathie. At this point, she has chosen to lose her hair, rather than some numbness in her extremities and sensitivity to cold.

The next step is to decide where to get this treatment. Dr. Eng knew some colleagues that she would recommend at IU, Chicago, UNC, Duke, or Wake Forrest. Kathie and Bob now need to trade off those choices with a more "convenient" choice of staying in Lafayette for treatment.

After the oncology appt, we packed up the florist shop Kathie had in her room, got some pain medication and nausea medication from the Pharmacy (took another hour or so), and finally headed out of the hospital. M D Anderson is an amazing place. Surgeons performing miracles every day, classes being held all the time on wellness programs, and teams of Doctors consulting on their patient care. But, they are definitely not immune to the things we all experience in the medical system. Some nurses are much better than others. And, many times, things take much longer than expected.

In general, Kathie had a decent day. She did end up with some slight pain in her abdomen, and she was a bit nauseous on a few occasions. So, we decided to get some anti-nausea patches, and some Tylenol with hydrocodone "to go".

We finally left the hospital, grabbed some Subway for dinner, and made it to Eileen's at about 7:30 pm. The kids had done great all day, thanks to Eileen. A big public thanks for the time Eileen watched the kids. Without the help, someone would have missed the oncology appt.

Again, sorry to all for the delay in posting. I am still getting my bearings down here.