Im creating this blog for family and friends to follow my mom's battle against appendiceal cancer. Its hard for me to talk about it most days but I realize people only ask me questions because they care. This way you all can stay current with what's going on.
Mom came home today from the hospital. She is in a lot of pain, but it's actually not due to the cancer or tumors. Her pain is from the surgical procedure she had done on Tuesday where the dr. placed a peg tube in her stomach which comes out of the abdominal wall and allows the contents of the stomach to be drained. I was supposed to pick her up, but we decided to have an ambulance bring her instead due to the large amount of steps we have outside and then again inside. Within 15 minutes of being home, she threw up and didnt make it all the way onto the potty. So my clean-up began there and I had a full load of laundry to be washed within the hour. I spoke to hospice who will be coming in the morning for a few hours to help bathe her, change her bandages, etc. They didnt come tonight as we felt it wasnt necessary however they did send a courrier with some prescriptions such as tylenol, morphine, ativan, etc. She isnt supposed to have anything UNLESS we should call the after hours care and be instructed to use it. Right now, her pain is managed. My brother and his wife came over to see her. When we are all together her spirits seem to be lifted. We tell jokes and laugh about things. It's nice. I just helped her go to the bathroom and brush her teeth and she is trying to go to bed. I still need to check on her before I go to bed though. She has had a popsicle, jello, broth, numerous drinks and ice all afternoon. Although it comes right out into the folley bag, she MUST be getting something through as her ileostomy bag actually had output today... and it was a fair amount! Originally she was going to have no nutrition at all, however, when i spoke to hospice today i asked why she couldnt have it. I figured since she is not in any pain from the tumor growth and her blood work came back excellent, bp is good, etc.... why shouldnt she have it? I do believe they will hook her up to TPN (nutrition) sometime soon. Although it wont cure her, it will allow her to be nourished instead of just letting her waste away in a few weeks. Thats all for now,.. Im drained. I'll update tomorrow.