Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Day Nine





Mom is waving the Kindle hubby and I got her for Christmas.  It has really come in handy for when one of your arms happens to be hooked up to an IV.  This particular kind is global so it can upload books almost anywhere in the world.






At the clinic, mom had blood drawn so that they can check her liver and kidney functions along with electrolytes and white and red blood cell counts.  She then received stem cell therapy and protein.  Dr. Moon then prescribed chemo (Avastin, Tykerb and then Cisplatin which will begin the same day as Cyberknife).  We later went to the Korean Cancer Clinic which is about an hour away (45,000 won one way).  We met with Dr. Cho who is head of the Radiation Oncology & Cyberknife Center.  Unfortunately, the PET scan mom had last week was not detailed enough for him to plan the radiation part of her treatment yet.  He did say, however, from the look of this scan that the cancer has not metastasized (SUCH GREAT NEWS).  Her liver, spleen and spine are clear.  He believes the pain she is having is from the tumors pressing on the pleura.  He said that her last radiation was a very good one and that they did a good job.  Unfortunately, with all of the radiation that has already been done, her right lung is nearly collapsed.  The good news, after Cyberknife, her pain will go away. 

We will be going into the clinic early tomorrow morning so mom can start the Avastin intravenously. Then it's back to Leaders Imaging Center in the afternoon for another PET scan.  We'll then revisit Dr. Cho on 1/6/10 to rediscuss radiation therapy. 

It's been such a long day.   Big hugs and kisses to my amazing family back home ...