Monday's update

Faith is an aptitude of the spirit. It is, in fact, a talent: you must be born with it. - Anton Chekhov

Keeping the faith

Mom's neurosurgeon stopped by and was quite the cheerleader, raving about her progress! He said she is doing very well; he can tell from her movement and from her speech that the tumor is shrinking! Yeah! We were thrilled at the good report and happy to see Dr. Singel; we appreciate his optimism and commitment to using the "big guns" (his words) on Mom's cancer.

Mom's words are much more clear and steady than last week. Her thinking is still faster than her mouth, which does frustrate her sometimes, but she recognizes when that happens, deliberately slows down and tries to get the right word out. Or, she closes her eyes and thinks, and then says, "I don't know, I'll have to do it later." The easy phrases come out simply; the harder words and unique thoughts are more difficult. There is still good news in this, though. The neurosurgeon confirmed that this speech pattern is one that can improve with speech therapy, and it's not a permanent condition. So we have more goodness to look forward to.

Another success is Mom's arm exercises. She is pulling strongly on Dad as he helps her move her arm towards her nose and then push back. She's counting perfectly up to 10 and to 20 during her exercise, and she's holding her hands together while she works her muscles. The therapists have said that her hands will teach themselves what to do, what one hand does, the other will want to do. This is interesting, because in years of Suzuki lessons with the girls, our teachers have said what the right hand does, the left hand automatically follows (and vice versa) so you have to consciously think of that when you're learning to play the violin and cello. Mary Claire "practiced her cello" today while working through Mom's exercises with her. Everyone needs a little stretch in the afternoon and working out with Mom makes it easier and more fun for all of us.

A few challenges

One difficult spot today was getting another IV put in. Mom's poor, sad, overworked veins. They are tired of being poked and pulled and filled with all kinds of medicine. After many valiant attempts from the assigned nursing staff, and a heat pack to try to plump things up, and a full hour of trying, there were many tears but no success. Finally, a smart person decided to call the local expert. She came in, took a look around, gently prodded a few times, and then quickly put the IV in with success. After a few strongly worded suggestions, the charge nurse agreed that Mom will only get new IVs from the expert from now on. A special note on her whiteboard that says "Contact Expert." (Okay it doesn't really say "expert" but I can't remember the exact acronym of the very special nurse.)

The other unhappy thing about today is that Mom's radiation (as of 5pm) hasn't taken place yet. The machine is down. GRR! This is the same machine that purposefully taken down on Friday for a software update. So we lost Friday and probably Monday's radiation. Mom eagerly anticipates each treatment, knowing that they are helping shrink this tumor as much as possible. Not having a treatment, and not finding that out until late in the day is more than frustrating. I imagine it would be a lot more disappointing if Mom weren't making such awesome progress otherwise. She's working so hard to get well, and her efforts are paying off despite the interruption in the scheduled treatments. We will be happy to get back on track, though, so we can see what other new wonderful things Mom will say and do this week.

This weekend Mom enjoyed lots of restful naps, sound sleep, many hugs from her family, and at least two nail-bitingly exciting ACC basketball tournament games. She cleaned her plate (except for the nasty carrots and green beans) at every meal, and she enjoyed her Blue Bell strawberry ice cream. And we all know ice cream makes everything better.