All is stable at the Weaver Household. At least stable as compared to the last few months. Looking back since October 17th, the day Dr. Loukas told us that the chemo treatments were failing to keep the tumors in check, I realized we’d spent nearly 100% of our time dealing with issues associated with treatment. November all but disappeared on us. But, today, she’s stable. In fact we actually lowered her pain dosage down yet again. As of now it’s at 0.7 mg/hr (vs. 1.3 mg/hr when we went to MD Anderson.) Nausea, however, continues to be a real problem.
Yesterday morning we lowered the pain dosage down to 1.0 mg/hr and we waited. We ran some morning errands and picked up a ton of vegetables for our juicer. Yes, we now have a juicer, a fact which will have many people jumping for joy for some reason. So, for lunch, we had a juicer-made drinks and other vegetarian-like stuff. The juice was ok, albeit we overdid the beets a bit. And everything was fine until about 2PM when Maggie lost her lunch, some in the bathtub where she was relaxing and the rest in the toilet where it belonged. She said she wasn’t nauseous but just suddenly she had a lot of pressure and blam! Out it came. Very odd, this new nausea. Laying down after the fact she said she didn’t know what was worse – laying around nauseas all day without throwing up or having no nausea but instant surprise pukes. Either way, we don’t understand it and it ain’t real fun. But, hey! No pain. We’ll take that.
This morning we lowered the pain dosage down again, to 0.7 mg/hr. As of now Maggie says she hasn’t had any pain to speak of. Great stuff. Later today we’ll try for a lower dose again, say, 05. mg/hr. We figure that somewhere we’ll hit the dose where her back starts hurting again. But heck, we’ve almost halved the amount of that stuff in her body already. I’d say that’s great!
Next week Maggie’s headed back to MD Anderson for her second hepatic arterial infusion (HAI). We’ve made the very difficult choice to have me stay home this time. Instead, Mom Mary is graciously taking time off work to care for my baby. I’m glad that we have this option and I know Mary is happy to help out. We made this decision because, as has been mentioned, all we’ve done over the last few months is deal with the latest health crisis. What I’ve not done is feed my fledgling business and it’s at risk of being still-born. Next week – work, work, work. And try not to worry.
I’m glad the pain lately is less. It was soooo nice to see you yestereve, Maggie! Thanks for being the person you are and for showing me such generosity and sweetness! Hugs.
So good to hear this news! I’ve sent lots of extra thoughts and prayers to you yesterday and today. Love you both so much!
Glad to know that your pain is subsiding. I hope the juicer makes things stay down easier! I’m keeping y’all in my thoughts and prayers.
Wonderful news! If the med concentrations are going down, the pain level is going down…if the pain level is going down, then SOMETHING else is happening in there to lessen the pain…dare we hope..less swelling? smaller tumors? Ideal scenario: smaller, fewer tumors! That’s the prayer for the week ahead…(oh, and for me to survive finals week and grading!)
Chris, glad to see you eating your vegetables too! Although you’ve never been one to shrink away from a big pile of artichokes and avocados!
Love you both, can’t wait to see you at Christmas…Carson sends his love and sloppy kisses! We’ll videotape the Winter Festival so we can all watch it together…should be hilarious if last year is anything to go by! (i.e. Carson running screaming across the room shouting “no, no, no” and then lying on the floor pouting while the other kids sang)
Chris, if you need any help next week running errands or doing anything, please let me know… I’m open all week!
Great News! Good thoughts, good wishes and lots of prayers coming your way. Keep up the good work. Thanks for a great Thanksgiving. All my love. Meme
I hope things are going well. After reading about how much time Maggie is spending in the tub, I wanted to share a tip I have been using that has helped me a lot. My sister made me a couple of pillows about 14 inches long and 6 inches wide and filled with flax seeds. I warm them in the microwave and they do wonders. I am sure it is the same concept as bags filled with rice. Hopefully you can find some of these for Maggie, and hopefully it will help her. I can cuddle one around my back and one around my stomach and it really helps with the pain.
It was so great to see you and hang out Tuesday night with you Mags. Looking forward to Sat as well!
i am glad to hear you are in less pain!!! and the juicer is a great idea!! we love ours!!! i suggest: 2 red apples, 4 carrots, 2 oranges, and about a 1/4-1/2 inch slice of fresh ginger (or to taste). yummmmy, plus the ginger is great for nausea!!! can’t wait to see y’all this weekend!!!
That’s so great being able to lower the pain meds! Thank you Lord!