Day 58 at Cancer Treatment Centers of America

Wednesday, July 23rd 2014

Mom woke up this morning extremely nauseous and sick.  She was scheduled for radiation at 9:25 a.m., but was unable to complete today's treatment due to her constant vomiting.  We now have ten more radiation treatments to go and Dr. Norleena Gullett really wants to do what ever it takes to get mom through these last treatments.  Zofran was administered through her port to stop the nausea.

During the weekly Radiation Oncology follow-up with Dr. Gullett and Kathy McLaine, Dr. Gullett asked dad to go to the car and bring in mom's bag with all of her medications and supplements.  Magic Mouthwash needs to be used 3 times a day again.  Aquaphore is to be used on her neck after radiation treatments and before going to bed.  Silvadene is not needed while there are no open wounds or a  threat of infection.  Dr. Gullett discontinued 10 supplements and medications.

Although, Gullett believes that all of the supplements that she is currently taking are great for her overall health, since mom is experiencing nausea, it's best to eliminate some things.

During the Nurse Assessment in the clinic with mom's nurse Dee, mom was weighed as usual and mom has lost another pound, now she is at 106.  After mom's appointment with Georgianna to go over any changes, it was time to met with Letitia Price, Nurse Practitioner, to review mom's blood work.  Everything was good except her potassium is elevated.  Her blood levels were off a bit probably from vomiting so much this morning.  Letitia ordered an hour of fluids to see how mom's blood work looks tomorrow.  Unfortunately, infusion couldn't fit her in until 5:00 p.m. and mom said not today.   The infusion has been rescheduled for tomorrow during her appointment for Chemotherapy at 10:00 a.m..

Day 57 at Cancer Treatment Centers of America

Tuesday, July 22nd 2014

Yesterday, mom said she didn't feel well and decided not to go for her appointments at CTCA.  The schedule for yesterday was a full load including her next Chemotherapy Treatment and now the entire schedule has to be reworked.

Dad and I spoke with Dr. Gullett, mom's Radiologist, in the lobby about mom's progress.  Dr. Gullett and Kathy McLaine are two of the nicest people I have ever met.  She and Kathy corrected the insurance issues regarding mom's Fentanyl patches so she can start back using the long lasting Duragesic. She is to be on 37.5 micrograms of Fentanly now.  Her attitude is a lot better and she is less irritable when she has the patches.  

You can really tell she desperately wants to eat because she continues to try every time we go out or eat at the cafeteria.  Her tongue is still raw from the treatments and nothing is really providing relief at this point in the process.  We have our weekly meeting with Dr. Gullett and her team tomorrow as well as her nurse assessment and blood draw so hopefully everything continues to go well.  Graduation from Radiation is just a couple of weeks away!