This past week has been hectic to say the least! Thank you all for the cards, emails and phone calls. I'm terribly sorry that I haven't had time to respond individually....but I promise I will try once we find a new 'norm' around here.
On Monday, the oncologist came to see Mom at the hospital. He said that he wanted to bump her up to a stronger chemotherapy medication - meaning it should work faster, but she will most likely have worse side effects. He also said that he should know within 2 months whether this chemo will be working. Basically, if it doesn't work, we've got no other options. Tuesday, after hours of fighting (well, maybe fighting isn't the right word...we'll say disagreeing -- something a little loudly, haha) with the nurses at the hospital as well as home health, she finally was able to come home after a 27 day stay at the hospital! She came home on IV medications with pumps and such. So, the way they had explained it to me was that the home health nurses would come to the house to take care of stuff. In reality, though, the home health nurses have taught me how to mix drugs and use the pumps myself, since they keep saying 'you'll have to be here 24/7'. So, 'Nurse Meredith' (who never had an earthly desire to be a nurse and STILL doesn't) has had to rely upon the strength of the Lord to get through this time. I am mixing drugs - just the vitamins in the TPN, but still it involves vials and needles with big syringes. I am flushing out her line and hooking up new tubing to her IV/Cath line. And, I'm in charge of the ileostomy bag - the bag that just doesn't want to stay on for more than 72 hours at a time.....and these bags always choose to leak before I get out of bed. :( Nervous, tired and just plain worn out at 6:30 in the morning doesn't make for a nice nurse...but again, God's giving the strength. On Wednesday, we went to Effingham for Mom to start this new chemo drug. She did very well through the treatment and has had none of the allergic reaction/side effects to be present as of yet -- definite blessing!
On Thursday, she was actually up & walking around (with the help of someone carrying her med pumps). She had a pretty decent appetite as well. Friday came, though, and the normal 2 - 7 days of 'blagh' after chemo seem to have set in. She slept most of the day Friday and Saturday. She hasn't seemed to have been in as much pain as she was, but she's getting lots of pain meds, so maybe that has something to do with it.
OK, there's the update on how the week went. Here comes the praise reports and prayer requests.
Praises: We're so very thankful that Aunt Peggy was here a LOT this past week, helping me get the house reorganized, cleaned up and doing cooking while I was setting into a routine with Mom's medicine! I'm also thankful that I worked as a Pharmacy Tech in the past & the pharmacist taught me how to do some TPN stuff then -- shhh don't tell. I'm also thankful that when Grandma was living & taking insulin, I was able to give her a lot of her shots - allowing me to not be uneasy about it now while giving them to Mom.
Requests: We're continuing to pray for healing...God is still in that business! Please pray for continued peace. We know that the peace of God has been residing here, but sometimes we have trouble claiming it. :) And, please just continue to pray for Mom.
One last thing....we did have an awesome experience. On Monday night, Mom got really upset after the oncologist told us about knowing within 2 months about the chemo. Anyway, when she got really upset, her pain rate went up and we had trouble getting it under control. She asked me, Michelle and Aunt Peg to stay the night with her. So, while Chelle & Aunt Peg were sleeping, I was sitting up with Mom praying. I remember distinctively praying that God would send His angels to give Mom peace and relief from pain. Around 4:00, I woke up to Mom yelling 'Meredith, Meredith! Wake up! The angel is here, my pain is gone, and the angel said to wake you up and let you know he's here.....just look at him!' I prayed God would give me eyes to see, but that didn't happen. However, I didn't need to see that angel with my physical , because I knew that God had answered prayers and given Mom rest. The nurses and staff laughed at me and Mom...saying she had enough drugs to make her hallucinate - which she did. But, they must not know the God that I know and they apparently don't know about His love for my mom! Thanks again for all your prayers -- and time in reading this!
