Journal entry by Heather Molway —
Halloween. Mom’s second chemo treatment. Mom went in wanting to dress up for Halloween as Morticia Addams. Her thought was if we gotta do this, we are gonna have fun doing this. I decided I would go as Morticia’s daughter, Wednesday. We had so much fun planning and preparing our costumes including the red, long, claw-like fingernails that mom LOVED! I believe she will always keep those long red nails.
We checked in at the cancer center as Morticia and Wednesday and the girl at the desk died with laughter saying she loved our costumes. Many other patients in the waiting room and treatment room thanked us for dressing up and bringing a smile to their face.
They started her meds through her port and then we met with the radiation oncologist. Mom’s cancer has spread to a lot of her bones and the spot on her left rib has started causing pain so they were going to start radiation. When the doc asked what her pain level was and it was only a “4” she advised that we wait and see if the chemo might remedy the pain. She told us if the pain got too great, we could call anytime and set up radiation to that spot.
Round 2 is done and I see the effects of what it’s doing to my mom. She’s fatigued this round quicker. I see her shaky hands and she’s wobbly already.
She’s still one feisty chick and I’m trying to feed her as much as I can because she doesn’t have much of an appetite. But, she loves my food so I'm going to keep feeding her!
A friend of mine from high school passed away this week from cancer and we made the trip to Plattsburg today for the celebration of life for JW. My mom was a champ waiting in the long line to give our condolences to his parents. And it blessed my heart to see so many people come up to us and give my mom a hug and ask how she’s doing.
The one thing about my mom is she really is a super hero. I told the radiation oncologist that you can’t trust what my mom tells you as far as pain level. I told her my mom had 6 babies without any pain meds and her “level 4” pain is a normal person’s level 8. So who really knows how much pain she’s really in! She just doesn’t complain and she doesn’t want anyone to fuss over her.
My oldest brother, Jeremy, will be here Monday for a whole month and will be staying with mom so at least she won’t be alone. Her next chemo treatment is on November 21st.
Please keep praying that she continues to have minimal pain and that the cancer is not spreading.
We love you all,
Heather, brothers & Kathy
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