Luck of the Irish

It's Saint Patrick's Day, and visitors and nurses at Harris Methodist HEB are decked out in green, wearing sparkling clover pins and plastic beads. To celebrate, Mom challenged Jennifer to several games of solitaire, Pac-Man and Angry Birds on the iPad. She particularly enjoyed Pac-Man, chanting, "Go! Go! Go! Get him!"

Mom's garden is decked out in green as well. One of Mom's favorite hobbies is tinkering and digging in her garden, and it shows. We have a lovely yard, and the backyard is an oasis of purple, pink and green around the sparkling blue pool. Plants and trees are budding, and the daffodil bulbs she planted are faithfully rewarding us with bursts of buttery yellow and lemon. Other plants offer purple, lavender and bright fuchsia blooms.

 

Dad took a few hours out of the hospital today to shower, start the taxes and run errands, including a stop at the Home Depot to pick up fertilizer. When he returned, he smiled at Mom and said, "Guess what I bought?"

Wide-eyed, Mom grinned and said, "A new house!"

Dad was caught off-guard by Mom's humor, and he smiled widely and laughed.

Turns out he bought tomato and poblano pepper plants for Mom's garden, a nod to the approach of spring and something to look forward to: fresh vegetables for summer salads and barbecued chicken served al fresco by the pool. It's important to have a goal, and enjoying a salad with a nice glass of Riesling on a warm summer evening sounds just about right.

This is where the newly-purchased tomato and pepper plants will go.

Funny lady

Suddenly the smell of popcorn is turning Mom's stomach. Yesterday she craved it, so Dad bought her a box. Today he offered her some, and she turned her head away, "No, no! I can't stand the smell. I have to stick something in my nose! It stinks!"

Mom may struggle to find the right words sometimes, but other times her sense of humor comes out loud and clear.

She's been enjoying all the jokes people have been sending in. Keep it up! We'll have enough to publish a joke book one day.

The latest news

The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.

This morning the weekend oncologist-on-call (new to us and a nice guy - very energetic) gave Mom a great report. For several weeks she's been on a high dosage of Decadron, which helps reduce brain swelling caused by the tumor and the radiation, but it can leave her at risk for serious side effects. She's already experiencing severe bruising and thinning, dry skin. He said she seems to be tolerating the slightly lower dose of IV steroids, so it's time to dial it down a bit again. We think her speech may be a bit more garbled than before the dose was lowered, but he's confident the aphasia will improve with time.

Also, he reminded her that she only has five radiation treatments remaining, so she "graduates" next Friday, 3/23. At that point, if all goes well she'll be clear to move on to an acute rehab facility, where she'll receive three hours of intense physical, occupational and speech therapy daily to regain the strength and skills lost in the last five weeks. (Has it really only been that long?)

I've been wondering about the end of radiation therapy - as difficult as it has been, we still cling to it as the key to her regaining health; before radiation, the tumor grew so quickly, and she declined so rapidly. Radiation therapy and chemo brought her back to us a little at a time. So I asked the oncologist what we could expect after the radiation ended. Was there a possibility we'd see another decline?

"Oh, no," he said. "Some of the cancer cells are dead but don't know it yet. So we'll see continuing improvements and effects from the radiation for some time. Probably in six or eight weeks we'll really see an improvement."

It was music to our ears. She's doing well now, and if this was as good as she got we could handle it and adapt. But to hear that she could continue to improve and grow stronger was a wonderful ray of hope. It doesn't change the overall prognosis, but it does mean that we can hold on to the hope that she'll come home and enjoy her garden, family and life.

Maybe there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow after all.