Monday Treatment: A Late Report

Sorry for the late report on Monday's goings on, been busy this week and Mom and Dad seem to have hit a more stable plateau.

Dr. Wiggans stopped one of his anti-nausea medications (particularly apt since Dad has shown NO SYMPTOMS!) He was taking it 4 times a day and he seems to be responding positively. When I called Monday, he answered the phone with a strong voice and a strong laugh that I hadn't heard in a long time. Doubling his sleeping medication in the evening has helped as well and now he's getting a proper amount of rest. Appetite is starting to return and he put on a couple of pounds over the weekend.

Mom received the go-ahead to double her diuretic as needed to help swelling in her feet and ankles and that's helped. The next hurdle is Fractionated Stereotactic Radiation which started Monday afternoon. She approached the treatment in good spirits with a positive attitude. She and Dad talked how it had helped to have had her Simulation Day and she felt like she knew something about what she was getting into. As we left, he got out of his chair and kissed her goodbye and held her hand as we went to the door.

When we got to the clinic we were taken promptly downstairs to the treatment area and Mom was whisked back into the labs. There is nice waiting area with great art. The map prints by Nancy Graves, done in the early 70s held particular sentiment for me because it was just what Susan was doing in art school at the time. (She even took a class in Cartography.)

And after about an hour she came out with a smile on her face!

Everything went well. It was a little more strenuous holding her position for the length of the treatment than she had anticipated and she was tired and a little shaky, but mainly I think she was relieved to have the first treatment over.

Dinner had been provided by friends from church. I helped Dad program his new cell phone and stayed for dinner and cleaned up afterwards. A topic at dinner was how they occupy their minds during treatment or exercise. Mom was disappointed she couldn't recite the Books of the Old Testament. It turns out that Dad recites McGraw and McGhee when he rides his exercise bike. He said he might try memorizing the OT books just to see if he could still do something like that.

All in all a successful day.

I guess Dad had an appointment with Wiggans today. I'll find out about it in the morning. Mom's next treatment is at noon tomorrow. Friends had been asking to help, so I suggested she call one and see if she could get a ride tomorrow which she did. I think she was surprised how much it meant to her friend to be asked for help.