Update on Mom (3/5/09)

Well, Mom has been home from the physical rehab facility for almost two weeks now and she’s getting stronger every day.  Her biggest victory has been that she’s been able to go back to see Dr. Jason Porter, her Naturopathic Medical Doctor and resume her Vitamin C IVs.  Yesterday was her first treatment since January 14, 2009.  I took this picture of her yesterday during her treatment.

She’s still wearing the TLSO brace to support her back and stabilize it so she doesn’t twist and/or turn.  It’s causing her some discomfort, but overall it’s fine.  She’s not having any pain with her back whatsoever.  So, we feel very blessed about that.  We had been very concerned about  her level of pain with her back.  Now, that issue has completely resolved.

She was able to use her walker to walk out the front door, down the little sidewalk that leads to the driveway, down the driveway, and (with a little help) get into the car for her appointment.  This was the first time we’ve been able to transport her without a wheelchair transport service since she was hospitalized back on January 21st.

Once we got to Dr. Porter’s office, we used the wheelchair to get her into his office.

It was so nice to see everyone there again.  We talked with Dr. Porter for quite a while as he got her IV ready and hooked her up.  He started her back on her usual 75 gram bag of Vitamin C with an energy push at the end.

He looked at her thumb and felt he could help get the blood flowing into it a little better, so he did three acupunture treatments around the thumb.  We’re just believing when it’s all said and done her thumb will be completely whole again.

She finished up her last Decadron pill last Friday – so it’s been almost a week.  We just can’t wait until all that stuff is out of her system.  It’s not been her cancer – but the Decadron that’s been our biggest challenge since she was diagnosed back in August 2008 with lung cancer.  We call it the “demon drug” because it’s so insidious.

In the above pictures, she’s at Dr. Jason Porter’s office for an IV Vitamin C treatment.  She’s sitting in her wheelchair during her treatment (since it’s easier for her to stand up because of the arms) and she’s wearing her back brace.  Hopefully, she’ll only be in the brace for a few more weeks.

When we got her home, we were helping her with the walker in the driveway and all of us were with her (me, Dad and Gretchen).  She had been doing so well with her walker that we weren’t concerned to have her stand with it.  Well, Dad turned to shut the car door, I was dealing with the wheelchair in the back of the SUV, and Gretchen was in front of her.  It was like for one split second we all took our eyes off Mom and … wouldn’t you know it … down she came in that one micro-second she wasn’t being supervised.  She says her knees gave out and she came down landing on her bottom.  She bonked her head pretty good too.  But, overall, besides being pretty shook up, she was fine and uninjured.  She complained of a little bit of soreness today – most likely from the fall – but she is fine otherwise.

Today was my birthday and we all got together tonight.  Gretchen made me a homemade pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.  It was delicious.  Mom had a bowl of fruit – which is about as sweet as she can handle these days after being off sugar all these months.

A good time was had by all.

I think Mom’s at the place where she can begin to have short phone calls from her friends.  Dad, Gretchen and I talked about it and we think it would do her a world of good to hear from you.  So, feel free to call the house now to chat with her.

Until next time…

Tracey