Mom's Update

After one night in the hospital, Mom is doing much better. I was able to talk to her for quite some time this evening and she sounds great! She was able to get all the IV's out and is on oral pain medication that is managing her pain much better than the past couple weeks. Those IV's are such a pain to deal with that it is nice to have free movement!
The Physical Therapists were by today and gave her the green light to move about her room on her own. She was even going for a walk around the unit after we hung up. The surgeon was by and said she was doing well but he wanted to her stay at least another night and maybe until Thursday.
She had a couple visitors today and said that was nice, I worry that she gets lonely but she said she likes to rest on her own. It's hard for me to be away knowing she is by herself. At least she has Dan to visit her but since he started his new job he has been on a schedule too.
LT and I plan to head to the big city for the weekend so we can spend lots of quality relaxing time with mom!

A Pain in the ...

Mom is back in the hospital. She has continued to have pretty good pain and at her check up they thought maybe it was an infection. She was started on antibiotics and was told to call back if it didn't get better. Well a week later the pain hasn't gotten any better so went in to see the doc. They found some fluid pooled near her tailbone and needed to drain it. I assume this is normal but too much for her body to absorb. To drain it they needed to put her under and open her up again and also place a drain in her abdomen. She is on some good pain drugs as well and is resting. The doc said she could possibly stay a couple days to allow for healing and better drugs than would get at home.
She could maybe use a visitor but please call first.

A cruel joke from mother nature to a new mom!

Well I just came home from 5 days with mom. She went home on Saturday, 2 days earlier than expected. I think we were all a little anxious but it went very well. Mom went straight upstairs to her bedroom not even considering staying on the main floor. Sunday afternoon I felt like I was hit by a truck. I had flu like symptoms with major exhaustion after being out in the heat cleaning some great new toys my brother and sister scored from a grate sale. I was cleaning with bleach and feared I had been over exposed to that or the sun or even a combination of the two. I spent all evening on the couch while attempting to entertain LT. Thank goodness for my brother who took LT so I could nap!
Monday I still didn't feel good but I had a couple bursts of energy. But now I was clammy all day, what a gross feeling! I was hoping this was just a 24 hour thing so I tried to tough it out. After not sleeping much again Monday night I woke Tuesday and finally realized that the entire underside of one breast was hard and tender. Finally I figured it out, Mastitis! I put a call into my doc and within a hour I had a prescription and was on my way to feeling better! I knew that mastitis presents with flu like symptoms, but I didn't realize these symptoms commonly occur 2 days prior to a lump found. I though it developed from plugged ducts so I completely over looked the possibility. So I am on antibiotics for 10 days but I am feeling so much better, still not 100% but better than I was! Oh and this is all safe for LT so we can continue with breast milk!
Mom continues to do well at home. She said immediately that she was happy to be home and in her own bed. She has been resting nicely and eating well without diet restrictions! Of course we have had a few snags but progressing nicely. She has even been helping with cooking and baking. We have been eating such great meals! My brother had said he would much rather cook every night I am home and freeze the leftovers to eat when it it just the two of them. Works for me!
Ok, enough for now. This momma is still recovering so early to bed for me!

Home Early

I just heard that mom's doc was in this afternoon and said she could go home probably tomorrow! LT and I will go visit tonight and find out more details!

Post op plan

I suppose I should write about mom's post op plan. She was told she will be in the hospital for a week. However they also thought she would spend a night in the ICU, which she didn't, so I wouldn't be surprised if she went home a day or two early. She does have a colostomy so education will need to be done on the care of that.
The doc had said it would be 2-3 months recovery but this morning said she looked better and the surgery went better than expected. So recovery could be more like 1 month now.
The plan is to do chemotherapy afterwards. I would think they would want to get her strength and weight up before beginning that again but I have not heard a date to begin yet. She will have a 3 week cycle. An infusion on day 1 with 2 weeks of oral chemo and then 1 week off. This will repeat for 6 months to a year.
Oh and she was already up out of bed, took a couple steps and to the chair this morning and looked really good doing that! Yay for progress! That's all I know for now. Oh and she did ask for no visitors until tomorrow so if you want to know where she is just ask!

No Tumor

Yesterday was mom's surgery day. She had to be there at 6:30 for lab and then she was the second case of the morning. I thought she would have to wait a while but surprisingly she got called just minutes after checking in. We sat with her in the holding room but again minutes later they called her in. All 3 of us kids were there, with LT and my mom's sister. Our old neighbor even came to sit with us while mom was in surgery. This was so very nice!
After they got her Epidural going and site market we were allowed to see her once more.
She was pretty nervous but still in good spirits. I think it was a high anxiety day for everyone!
They took her into the OR and we waited. It was nice to have someone there to distract us. LT did her fair share of distractions but it's though for a little girl who was woke up early! The staff was good at keeping us updated and before we knew it (2 1/2 hours later) we were being called to visit with the surgen. The doc gave a great report! He saw no tumor in the rectum but took all lymph there to be sure. The tissue was sent to pathology to be sure and the doc said we still could get a report of some or no tumor. He also inspected the whole pelvic area and said all looked good. I asked specifically about the live and that was clear too! He said she did really well and that we could see her in about an hour so he said to leave to have lunch. We were so releaved that surgery went quick and so well!
By this time I needed to pump so we went home and found some lunch. My brother ate and went back right away but the rest of us took a little more time. Dan updated us when he went back and said that it would be a while still so not to hurry. We made it back about an hour later and mom was still in the PACU. We waited a little while and after it had been 2 hours since our update from the doc, I went and asked for an update. She called back to the PACU and they were just getting mom ready to move. We were told to go upstairs and wait a couple minutes then check with the nurse.
I went to check in and was so surprised when I was told to walk into mom's room and saw her talking with the nurse! She smiled and looked so good! No visible tubes and resting under a warm blanket. I gave her hugs and kisses and the told the nurse to grab us after she completed her assessment. Just a couple minutes later she told us to come back. All four of us plus LT and our stroller made our way in the room and I think everyone was so happy to see mom looking so good!
Mom was convinced she would be on the breathing tube for days and have a feeding tube as well. I think she was surprised as well!
We visited for a few minutes but realized she needed to rest so we told her we would come back later.
What a relief! I was so happy she was ok. Knowing she was in good hands the three of us kids decided to get some work done at the house. We still are trying to go through and get rid of stuff that has accumulated over 25 years of living in the house. We got a lot accomplished and got another short visit in before mom went to bed!
Thank you so much for the great thoughts and prayers. She was in The Lord's good hands! Now onto recovery!