The last week has been filled with ups and downs. Last week, my sister and husband were in town for Thanksgiving and it was amazing. We were all together and mom was feeling pretty good. I remember thinking that day as we all hung out watching football (after eating way too much), that I wish that I could freeze that moment of happiness. One of my best friends for over 20 years also visited for the weekend. It was a breathe of fresh air and a positive diversion that my heart needed. My mom was so happy to see her.
It's crazy how just a few days the human spirit can be crushed...For the past few days, mom's health has really been deteriorating. The main concern is she's been having some major breathing issues. I had thought that it was because her hemoglobin was low but I wasn't sure.
We had our CT scan early this morning and while she was getting that taken care of, I called the oncology clinic to fill them in on what's been going on. They were able to squeeze us in for an appt. with the nurse practitioner right after we had the scan. We took care of getting vitals and then met with the NP to figure out why mom's been feeling the way she was. Her blood results had showed that her hemoglobin, though still low (8.6), was actually a couple of a tenths better than last week. The NP called over to the hospital to see if they could tell anything from the scan. She was concerned that the blood clot had returned. Mom was hooked up to an oxygen tank to be a bit more confortable. The NP talked with the radiologist who said that the issue was not a clot but a moderate amount of fluid buildup in the lungs that's caused by the cancer. He also said that the cancer in the chest region looked more prominent..sigh.
So, tomorrow we have a thoracentesis scheduled to drain the fluid from mom's chest. Hoping the procedure goes smoothly.
No comments:
Post a Comment