Mommy Cancer Journey

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since we posted, so here's a general update on what has since happened. Mom has now completed 10 immunotherapy sessions (9 had chemo). We went to the City of Hope hospital to get a second opinion, because the chemo and immunotherapy were causing her a lot of unpleasant side effects (migraines, super itchy scalp, back pain, leg weakness, constant dry cough - to the point her ribs hurt-, tiredness, frequent urination, etc), with seemingly zero effect on the tumor. The second doctor recommended her to stay only on the immunotherapy, and we'll continue to proceed depending on how the next CT scan goes. The scan is scheduled for mid-February. We learned that immunotherapy tends to have a delayed response, so we hope that is the case here! The second doctor recommended against herbal medicine, as it may interfere with the drugs. Although my mom feels that the herbal medicine has helped her significantly, she will stop taking it for now to see if ho...

July 21, 2017 The results from the PET scan came back, and unfortunately it showed no change- the tumor size was the same and the chest lymph nodes still show abnormal activity. We're a little disheartened that the chemo does not seem to be changing anything besides making mom very tired and suffer awful headaches and leg weaknesses. However, we are also happy that at least it means the cancer is not growing! The doctor said that mom will need to continue chemo for more than 4 sessions, unlike previously expected. Since the chemo isn't terribly effective, we are looking into alternative medicine to supplement.

July 5th, 2017 The doctor said that her white blood cell count was one point below normal, so she has to take Neulasta injections to try stimulating white blood cell growth. After her first injection on Wednesday, she felt really stuffy, painful headaches that seemed to resonate with her heartbeat for a few days afterwards. This time, she said also feels worse after chemo- more tired, more weakness in legs, a ravenous appetite that comes back every few hours, excessive thirst, and her hair is thinning out. Still, she kept strong and we were able to celebrate her birthday on Saturday. Although she felt very tired, she said that being in good company helped keep her spirits up and energized as she was happy and would forget about her cancer. Not only that, but as she had some friends visiting from Hong Kong, she drove out to Las Vegas to meet with them on Sunday. Although initially after her second chemo and first Neulasta treatment were far from great, she seems mostly fine now and ...

June 25, 2017 On Tuesday will be mom's second chemo treatment. Please keep her in your thoughts and pray for her. We have been told that as chemo treatments go on, each one has greater side effects than the last. Over the past few days, she has had an increase in cough accompanied by heart palpitations, most likely due to fluid retention in her lungs. Let's hope that the chemo will work! Thanks everyone for your support! :)

Mom had her first Chemo treatment yesterday! Good news:  She didn't feel to bad after! And (to our disapproval) ran a bunch of errands at 3 different stores Bad news:  Chemo is cumulative-- and even though her first experience wasn't too bad, its supposed to get worse She's drinking lots of water and peeing a lot and thus far is not suffering any side effects. She is really thankful and lifted by everyone's prayers and support! Thank you <3 <3

Yesterday the CT scan came back negative for a pulmonary embolism (whew!)  So the doctor gave my mom 2 choices:  1. Go  home:  If she's feeling "good enough"  she can go home and make an appointment with a pulmonologist on her own time to get the fluid drained  2. Get admitted into the hospital:  Get admitted into the hospital and stay for an indefinite amount of time (due to the holiday weekend, its unknown when she would be able to see the specialist she needs)  Mom chose to come home.  I made a bunch of nutritious soups in my instant pot for her to eat, and made her drink some juice. And she seems to be doing much better!  Gary's parents are here for the weekend to come see her.  Its a full house for us right now.  

I woke up this morning to find my mom crying in bed from pain. I've rarely seen my mom cry, much less cry from physical pain. She's a little dragon mom: ultra strong mentally and physically. It came as a huge shock to see her curled up crippled by pain. I startled my sister awake and texted Gary right away. We rushed her to the Loma Linda ER. Thankfully Gary was able to meet us there-- and wow we breezed through the ER thanks to Gary's kindness to those he works with regularily. She got an X-ray, and and ultrasound-- were waiting on. CT scan now to make sure she doesn't have a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) From the ultrasound-- we could see mom had some fluid built up in her lungs. We are currently still here waiting to see what's next. In best case scenario-- hopefully she just had some acid reflux that caused the pain. Hoping for that!