Journal entry by Ashley Thoma —
Our last official update was a year ago, which we consider to be a great blessing. Last summer was scary and mom bounced back very well from how she started that summer.
She adjusted to being on oxygen full time. She has continued her Keytruda treatments and as far as her cancer goes, that has been good and remained stable.
What has been hard is the side effects from the radiation/chemo treatment. From something they discovered called “watermelon stomach” which was causing internal bleeding and low hemoglobin, to Her esophagus continuing to be an issue, causing problems eating and choking. She has had a handful of trips to the ER and doctor because something gets stuck. They continued to try to stretch it for her but it wouldn’t stay stretched. The last time they attempted they had to stop the procedure because she stopped breathing.
At that point they recognized that her body has been retaining a lot
of fluids. They gave her some diuretics and a plan to watch to make sure it (weight/fluid) doesn’t increase a lot in a day. Meanwhile she has been struggling with her breathing, energy despite being on oxygen 24/7.
Today they discovered she has congestive heart failure. Boy, I know that sounds scary and it is if it’s not addressed. She will be admitted to the hospital this week and put on a strong diuretic- they suspect she has about 25lbs of fluid retention.
She bounced back from last summer so I believe she will do it again.
Also in December, Larry (her SO) was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer And is undergoing treatments this year, it’s been crazy for both of them
to be going through this together.
If you would, please pray for both of them. ❤️
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