In the clear

A very brief post:

Mom had a doctor appointment today and the test results from the fluid draw came back negative for malignant cells. This is huge news and very good news as well. This means there is still no spread of the cancer.

Doing well

Mom had a doctor appointment today. Jake and I went with her. Overall the report was great. The best news is that her CA-19 count is down some more. It went from 312 at the last check to 118 now. That's a very significant improvement. The normal range for a healthy person is 0-35. At one point the count was in the 900's so 118 is amazing. This was outstanding news and very relieving.

Mom also had the fluid previously mention drained today. They took out 2.5L. That seems like a lot. She is much more comfortable now. They will run tests on the fluid to check for any malignant cells which would be an indication of less effectiveness by the chemo. With the news of the CA-19 level dropping, it seems that shouldn't be too big of a concern.

She had a minor fall the other night, likely due to poor balance from a sleeping pill. No injury other than a bumped up tail bone.

The doc agreed with Jake and I that she does need to be careful to moderate her activity level more. She's been overdoing it a bit lately and going till she crashes. Mom agreed that she needs to work on it more. Nobody wants her to sit around in bed all day, but some moderation would be good. We just want to see her get healthy.

A good day and good news.

I made some changes to reflect the color of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network of purple

Swelling & Hernia

Since the last update, which I can't believe was in October (the last few month have been crazy for me with no end in sight, with some very exciting stuff going on), mom's hernia has worsened. Much of this likely has to do with the fact that she still has not learned how to say "no". I had to remind her just yesterday that she still does in fact have cancer. She said that she is in denial. At least she recognizes that. I can see that it is very true. She has been blessed all along with being able to remain at work a couple days a week and has generally remained very active. She does way too much. It's just who she is. I see her in me a lot because I'm the same way. I never know how to tell people "no" and I often burn the candle at both ends. I get it from her, no doubt. I've talked to her once and I'll talk to her again about the fact that she really needs to chill this Christmas and not over do it.

In addition to the hernia worsening it looks like the swelling and fluid build up is getting worse as well. I talked about the fluid in the last post. She may be needing to get it drained soon. In the evening she almost looks pregnant there is so much buildup. I'll spare her the embarrassment of posting the pictures we just took to send to Stanford.

She meets with her oncologist on Friday so if there is news I will update.

Randomly I did a Google search on mom and found:

she is on a prayer list at her old church

turned up on Classmates.com

found the obituaries for my beloved grandmother. They are about 11 & 12 up from the bottom (Mary M. Bond)

and of course her FaceBook page