Aunt Rosalie has been daignoised with Cancer And Carolyn has been keeping us up to date but doin't no how meney are getting it so I'll pass it on, LarryG
Dear Family,
On Valentines Day we were told that Mom has follicular lymphoma. About a week and a half ago her stomach started extending and swelling. She has been feeling pretty bad. Yesterday they drained 2 liters of liquid from her abdomen which helped and she felt some better. Tomorrow, Sunday March 9, Clark and I will be traveling with Mom to Seattle to see an oncologist on Monday who specializes in lymphoma and then we will return home on Tuesday. Mom will start treatment at the Walla Walla Cancer center on Wednesday. We will be staying with Scott and Margaret while in Seattle. Her appointment is about 15 minutes from their home.
Sandra will be staying with Dad while we are gone. Wes and Sandra are in the process of moving to Waitsburg and drove their motorhome back just recently. They will be making several trips to Salome, AZ soon to haul their furniture to Waitsburg and then get settled in their home.
Mom and Dad want to stay at home as long as possible so we have been in the process of interviewing and trying care givers.
We are planning a birthday celebration for Dad on March 22 in the Church basement from 2-4 to celebrate his 90th birthday and hope you can join us.
We welcome prays for Mother, that God would heal her if it is his will.
Our Love to you all, Carolyn
Dear Family,
Mom asked if I would inform the close relatives of her condition.
We arrived home late yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, March 11. The news we got in Seattle was not good. My mother has an aggressive type of cancer, diffuse large cell lymphoma, without treatment she has 2-3 months, chemo is not an option but there is another treatment (Rituximab (Rituxan®
, that will help her to be more comfortable and she is considering that treatment, it would give her 6-9 months according to the Dr. in Seattle, and she was hoping for a year. Next June Mom and Dad will be married for 70 years. We will know more about starting the treatment this afternoon as we have an appointment at the cancer center here in Walla Walla. My sister stayed with our Dad while we were gone and another care giver was trained and is doing well, although we just found out that she may only be available for 2 weeks. We will be needing a care give to take care of Dad and it may be all day and all night, we will see as we go. Mom may also need some care as she is not very active and it is becoming hard for her to walk. May be some of this will change as the Rituxan if it helps her will shrink the lymph nodes that are swollen and also there should be less fluid in the abdomen. Last Friday she had 2 liters drained which was not fun either and by evening she could feel it beginning to fill again.
This has been very quick and it is very aggressive. It is hard to imagine that this can happen to someone. The Dr. said Mom should try to stay happy and comfortable. It started with pain in the abdomen below the breast bone on Feb 4 which Mom went to Spokane Sacred Heart for an angiogram, which they did not do but zeroed in on the abdominal mass that was found. The diagnosis of the biopsy came on Valentines day...which was not an accurate diagnosis. Feb 20 her abdomen started swelling and filling with fluid, which was drained March 7 as she was too miserable, but has since filled again. March 10 we found out in Seattle that the pathology report from the best pathologist available was an aggressive cancer not an indigent cancer as reported in Spokane.
Please inform family who I have missed. We are trying our best to help Mom through this. We welcome your prayers.
Thinking of you all, Love Carolyn
Family,
Today we went to the Walla Walla Cancer Center to set up a plan of treatment for Mom. Dr. Bronstein gave us a second opinion...he felt that an aggressive treatment would help Mom. He wants to use three drugs (Chemo) with reduced amounts with the Rituxan treatment which will be intravenous one treatment every three weeks with 4-8 cycles. With this treatment he feels the lymphoma and fluid shrink and possibly go into remission. If the lymphoma does go into remission and starts up within a year then the treatment failed, but if she can make it past the year and it does not flair up then they feel the treatment was a success, but lymphoma is not curable. It will grow again in the future. With this treatment there are side affects...fatigue, nausea and loss of hair. There is around a 75% chance that it will shrink the tumors and help Mom feel better with a 25% chance that it will go into remission. He felt that within six months of treatments she will feel like she did a year ago. This gave us all hope...but the Dr. in Seattle said he recommended against chemo because of Mom's age and physical condition.
Mom wants to give it a shot. So, she is starting treatment tomorrow at 10 AM. It is a 6 hour treatment. There will be no immediate relief but within 6 weeks or after the second treatment she should start feeling better, if the treatment works.
Mom right now is not doing well with the bloated abdomen she can not do much and rests most of the time. She can have it drained for relief, but then it starts filling again and she may have to have it drained many times.
So, there is more hope today than yesterday. Mom's goal is to be around for their 70th wedding anniversary in 2009.
Wishing you all a wonderful evening.
-Love, Carolyn
