Check up with DiMartino

Kathie and Leigh went in for Kathie's appointment with Dr. DiMartino on Tuesday. Kathie felt the appointment went well. Dr. DiMartino said that her liver seemed to be staying about the same - it wasn't extra swollen or anything like that. She also said that Kathie actually did very well with the chemo and hopefully that is indicative of how she will react with the rest of treatment. After reviewing what Kathie was taking for pain, Dr. DiMartino prescribed something different, feeling that some of what Kathie was taking was too toxic to be taken on any kind of regular basis. They also chatted about some alternative treatment methods, which Kathie will be looking into further with some of the alternative medicine people at M.D. Anderson (nothing will be done instead of chemo, but rather in conjunction with, if she gets an okay). Dr. DiMartino also reconfirmed the the level of fluid in the lining of the lungs is lower than showed up on the x-ray taken the week after the lining of her lung was drained.

Getting off of the hydrocodeine (I think that was the drug?) has helped lower Kathie's feelings of nausea a bit - or at the very least, the vomitting ceased when she stopped taking it. The current issue is some mouth sores.

On another note, we'd like to direct everyone's prayers back to Mother Teresa - this time for Kathie's friend Jeannie, who is at M.D. Anderson this week for a check-up. Mother Teresa does need two miracles afterall, and Jeannie could very much use one of them. So if everyone could pray for some very positive test results for them, or if you are feeling daring, a cure... that would be great:) Kathie would greatly appreciate it.

Posted by Lauren