Update! and Vegas Baby!

Mom is doing really well with her post surgery healing. She will go to the kidney doctor tomorrow for her final checkup. She received her first round of chemo pills today and will begin taking them tomorrow. These pills do not have "typical" chemo reaction. She will not lose her hair but will experience fatigue. The oncologist said she should be able to tell with just the first round that these are working and will help with her breathing. Her bronchial tubes are being blocked by the masses right now. Not a complete block, but enough it affects her breathing. She will be on the pills for 4 weeks then off for 2 weeks.

Mom leaves for Vegas on Thursday. Rach and I hope she does not come back married to Elvis! She is going with her "Bunch" friends from high school and will return on Monday. So glad she feels up to it and can enjoy this time with her friends!

Thanks for all the prayers!

Jo

Home!

Mom got to go home today. Rachel called about 10:30 and said she was breaking out of the joint! I went over to the house this afternoon and she is doing great. Took a 3 hour nap in her own bed without nurses taking vitals! She will rest and relax for the next couple of weeks before we tackle the next hurdle. Thanks for all the prayers!

Love,
Jo

Post Surgery

So technology is great when it works! Sorry folks, blogger, which I do this off of has been down since yesterday afternoon. Update on mom. She is doing terrific! She was out of recovery and to her own room yesterday afternoon around 2:00. I knew she was alright when they were talking about her "clear liquid" diet yesterday and she asked if that included light beer! Yesterday was all about her one and only kidney realizing it is her one and only now. It has recognized that as of this morning and all systems are go!

Last night she was a little tired but not too tired for Greys Anatomy! We had a good time watching that. Too bad McDreamy is not at NWTH!

This morning the doctor touch base with her bright and early and is pleased with everything. Rachel has been staying with her the majority of the time and the boys and I treked up to go see her at lunch time today. She is officially "cord" free, no iv's or anything, just those lovely leg things that keep your blood circulating. She has been up and around and will be taking afternoon jaunts down the hallways.

It looks like she will either go home tomorrow or Sunday. She will have to take it easy for 2-3 weeks with no driving. The sudden movements are what we need to watch. As the doctor stated last night, now all we have to worry about are the lungs! As I mentioned before she will start the pill treatment in two weeks, which will give her enough time to recover from this.

Thanks for all of your continued prayers!

Jo

Out of surgery. All went well and they were able to do it all by laproscopic. Will update more later. Thanks for the prayers! Jo

We are a Go!

We just met with the oncologist this afternoon and bombarded him with questions! He is a very patient and understanding man! This type of cancer is very vascular and does not react to chemo or radiation. He confirmed again that it was Stage 4 renal cell carsinoma, since it had moved from one major organ to another. He said standard is to take out the large tumor (the one on her kidney) then we can treat the other spots, but getting the big tumor out with this type of cancer has proven to be good. So we are taking the tumor out on Thursday! Surgery is scheduled for 8:00 at Northwest.

Two weeks after surgery mom will start taking pills to help shrink and contain the other spots. She will do a couple of cycles of these and then we will look at other treatment options as well. These pills will have a few side effects, but nothing like chemo or radiation. She will take these from home.

Thanks for the continued prayers!

Jo

New Blog!

This is Joanna, Marilyn's oldest daughter. I am going to use this to keep everyone updated on my mom. Most of the time it should be me posting, if not we will let you know who is posting. Mom was diagnosed officially last Friday with Renal Cell Carsinoma or in people terms "Kidney Cancer". She underwent a lung biopsy last week and it was confirmed. The cancer is in her left kidney and in her lungs. This Thursday she will undergo removal of her kidney then we will proceed with treatment of the spots on her lungs. We are meeting with the oncologist today to make sure all of the doctors are talking and that this is the right way to go, before we remove a major organ!

Function with just one kidney is perfectly normal and the doctor said that she probably will never be able to tell, she will just have to treat her one and only kidney very nicely. :)

We covet your prayers and thank all of our friends and family for support during this time. I will update this as soon as we hear anything new.

Love,
Jo

“the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10 KJV)