Praise Him with us.............

Hey there,

I just wanted to update you all on my visit to the surgical oncologist at Duke yesterday. She took an xray and the arm is healing just like she was hoping. PTL!  She said that I am NOT a candidate for surgery! YAY!!!!! There is calcium "caulking" growing around the the fractured area which is supporting the arm. That "caulking" will eventually fill in the fracture but it will be a slow process because I'm still doing chemo. Once the chemo stops, the body will go to work in healing up that area just like in a normal, healthy person's body. Chemo slows the healing process down in cancer patients. 

We were very relieved to hear that I am not a candidate for surgery. I will begin physical therapy the week after Thanksgiving. I probably won't ever be able to raise this arm above my head like I can with the left arm, but if we can get it up 75%, that will be good. Most people, even healthy people, don't get full use of their arm back if it gets broken where mine was broken. Surgery would not help improve those odds at all. I am just thankful I can use my arm and that I don't have to have surgery. I saw a few people up there with only one arm yesterday, so I am thankful to have both arms.

I have been given permission to drive as I feel up to it, so that is a great relief as well. Yay!

The esophagus burn is doing much better. I was able to eat chicken and brunswick stew yesterday. It was wonderful! My body is CRAVING oranges so I even ate one of those. It didn't cause acid reflux, so that was a relief!

We have so much to be thankful for today and every day. I continue to gain strength and feel more normal. I can do more than I could two weeks ago! PTL! I have one more chemo to do on 11/29. We'll do a CT scan and go from there as to whether I will have more chemo or not after the one on 11/29.

God has been so good to us! Praise His Holy Name!

Love you all,

Molly

Well, it was a long weekend around here.    We arrived at 6:30 Friday morning for the port and I didn't go back for surgery until 11:00 AM!   I'd been told there were a few people in front of me, but I didn't expect to have to wait that long.   The insertion went well, PTL!   I could feel the doctor putting the sutures in, but I was not aware of anything going on.   They put me in recovery and brought me a meal.   I was SO hungry that I broke my rule of "No more hospital food for me ever again."   I really only ate the hash brown potatoes and orange juice so it wasn't that much hospital food.  LOL!   Then they brought me a lunch meal and I ate off of that.   I have to say that the baked fish, coleslaw, and cornbread muffin were actually really good.   By Friday evening, I was in enough pain that I wondered why I signed up for the port.   Oxycodone didn't even touch the pain.   The only way to avoid the pain was to sit real still in my recliner.   So, that's where I spent the whole weekend.    I was also suffering from gastrointestinal inflammation from the radiation.   It got worse on Sunday morning.   It hurt to breathe or swallow and nothing was helping.   I called the doctor on call and did what he said to do and it calmed down some.    I knew I could see my doctor Monday, so I held out til my appointment.    He decided we couldn't do chemo today because that would just aggravate the gastro inflammation even more.   So, chemo is on hold until things calm down.   Radiation is on hold for the same reason.   He gave me some fluids and nausea medicine in an iv and that has helped me feel better this evening.    He also gave me some medicine (Carafate) to coat the esophagus so it can heal.   The esophagus has a sunburn from the radiation.    I will have more fluids this week and a blood transfusion because my hemoglobin level is low.    

The nurse was able to use my port this afternoon.   I am now convinced I made the right decision to have this done.   It pinched, but it was a lot better than a med tech digging around trying to find my veins!!!  :-)

So, several unexpected things to deal with but I am reminding myself that these have not caught the Lord off guard.   He is ordering my steps through this ordeal.   Pray I can rest in the assurance that He is in control, not me.   

Thanks for your faithful prayers, dear friends!

Love,

Molly