Ok, I know that it has been weeks since my last post. Since then, any time I run into someone, they ask.... How is your mom doing? Well, I wanted to wait to post until after mom's drainage tubes were taken out. We sort of were assuming that this would be somewhere around 3-4 weeks after surgery. Mom just had the drainage tubes out on Thursday. It was just over 7 weeks that she had them in. Yeah, it is a long time. No, the doctors were not too worried. She had the tubes in so long because of the amount of volume of drainage that was still coming out. I wouldn't call it typical, but it is not really unusual. Some people just take a bit longer to heal.
The tubes came out because mom developed a bit of an infection around the incision. It is a few days after and it is looking better already. Amazing what antibiotics can do. She will be going to the doctor on a weekly basis to have any excess fluid aspirated until the drainage stops. Hopefully this won't be for too long.
Mom was off of the chemo drugs for about 8 weeks (3 weeks before surgery and 5 weeks after surgery). This 8 weeks gave her some much needed time to regain feeling and strength in her fingers and toes. Her energy level was better too.
She is back on her 2 weeks on chemo, one week off chemo. This will be her long-term treatment. In addition, every 3 weeks she will go in for an infusion. Every 3-4 months she will have a CT scan to make sure that things are held at bay. It has been a long road to get here, but we are here.
First of all it was great pleasure to see Ida & Peter on 4th July. A memorable date 20 years ago! of our first meeting in Baroda, MI.
ReplyDeleteHer spirit is so positive and it is an amazing gift. She is an example to everyone. Happy that tubes are gone because we saw it. Best wishes and prayers!