Sad moments and angry birds

Wednesday's big afternoon remains the highlight of our week so far. Thursday and this morning, Mom has struggled with a sore throat, a side effect of radiation. It took a while for us to figure out that was the problem; she was in pain while trying to eat, and she especially disliked hot liquids. We thought it was indigestion, but finally Jennifer noticed Mom was waving her hand in front of her mouth, and she realized that it was a sore throat. Lozenges and cool soft foods like yogurt and pudding seem to help.

Then yesterday she had an IV moved from one hand to the other arm, and the nurses struggled to get this one in due to the fact she's had so many IVs in the past few weeks. Her veins are tired of the IV medications, so they harden and become ineffective and painful. One arm is covered in dark purple bruises from where an apparently untalented technician took blood for routine lab work.

It was a very difficult morning, and the past two nights it's been hard to relax and sleep. This means neither Mom nor Dad have had any rest.

Also, she's had a headache, which seems such an insignificant thing comparatively, but really, it makes everything harder. So we're all a little down about these last two days.

We're also down because the radiology unit is closed today; they are updating some software. Not happy about that, either. It seems crazy to close a unit that is critical to cancer patients, instead of just doing the software upgrade over a weekend when they are already closed. Apparently Mom has to wait until Monday for her next treatment.

Mom is not disappointed about this, though. Radiation is exhausting. When we said her appointment was cancelled today, she said in wonder, "It is? Yay!"

A few bright spots

On this cold, wet, miserable day, we can still find a few moments of hope and enjoyment.

1. Spring Break starts! Granddaughters will be able to spend more time here and will have no evening activities for an entire week. So picnic dinners in the waiting room are on the agenda.
2. Grandma Marlene Berg is going to California to give grandson Macklin and son Charles all kinds of hugs, home-cooked meals and love.
3. Today's nurses are great and gave Mom an in-bed bath, shampoo, peppermint lotion foot rub and a eucalyptus lotion back-rub. Maybe now she'll be able to nap!
4. Mom's occupational therapist, Stacey, suggested she practice typing on her computer, clicking letters to get some mental exercise. So after lunch we tried having Mom type on a simple Word document on a laptop, but she had trouble hitting the keys; instead, she wanted to touch the screen. So we switched to her iPad, and she automatically tapped on the Angry Birds app and started to play. It takes enormous effort to hit the target with her finger, so she didn't set any high scores, but she was smiling and chuckling at the silly birds and their chattering.

Sara helps Mom with her letters.

Angry Birds needs a new version: Angry Birds Oncology Ward.