Hospice

Hey Everyone. As a family, we have made a very difficult decision to move forward with Hospice care for our dear, sweet mom. She has fought so hard to beat this cancer. Her Doctors told us tonight that she has outlived the average life expectancy of this kind of cancer. They all love her at the Huntsman Center and say she has never complained once. Everyone on the floor knows who she is and love her to death. She is such a happy, cheery person.

Lately, she has gone downhill. As most of you know, she has pneumonia... A severe case of it. She is recovering but still has a hard time breathing. The MRI shows that the tumor has returned and is very aggresive. The doctors said that if she makes it to Christmas, it would really be a blessing. Obviously they can't give us a time but it won't be long before we will lose our precious mom. Tonight she wasn't doing so well. She was seeing things and people that none of us were seeing. She was there, but not there. She kept trying to reach for things that just weren't there. She also said she was seeing lights and also saw Grandpa Bischoff among others. She would just say things that didn't make sense. The Doctors don't think this is a result of the tumor but that it could be her lack of oxygen or medicines. Either way, it's so hard to see her like this.

The doctors are recommending Hospice care. We are going to choose a Hospice care the next few days to help with the daily care of her. We are all trying to be the best we can be so that my mom doesn't have to go through this in vain. That we will learn what we are supposed to learn from this. We really are sad and concerned for our great dad. He loves her so much and it kills us to see him so sad. He keeps saying he's at peace with it but that he's sad and he hates to see her like this. We could all use your prayers, but especially my great father. We truly have been blessed with great parents. I love them both so much.

Update on my Mom

It's been awhile since I've posted an update on my mom. Here's the latest.
Becuase of her weakened immune system, she has contracted pneumonia. They have placed her on oxygen until she is better. Her last xray shows it is getting better but she still has a deep cough.

She is also back at Huntsman for her every 3 weeks Chemo treatment. We met with Dr. Glantz (World Renown Brain Cancer expert and great guy) last night and we talked to him about our options. They took her in for an MRI yesterday to see the latest with the tumor. Once they get the results back they will know more of a time frame and what our options are. Dr Glantz and his colleague want to try something else now. Her current Chemo (evastin) worked for a little while but doesn't seem to be doing much now so they want to stop that. There is a new drug, Herceptin, that has show good results fighting breast cancer as it targets only the cancer stem cells and not the good cells. Huntsman is the first Cancer center to try this drug on Brain Tumors and they are hopeful that they will have some success with it. It's strictly expiramental so we aren't sure what to expect. She had to take her current Chemo every 3 weeks for 3 days straight intraveniously. With this new treatment, she only will have to go in once a week for about 30 minutes.

Here is an article that talks more about the new drug Herceptin.

http://www.ufscc.ufl.edu/Patient/cancernews.aspx?section=cancernews&id=36779

We are still hopeful of a miracle. She has been very weak lately and can only take a few steps at a time without needing a rest. She requires a walker and a wheel chair and can't go anywhere by herself. Simple things like sitting up are extremely hard for her. She sleeps most of the day as well. We have to force her to get up on occasion so that she can eat and move around a little bit. She also has therapists that come a few times a week to help her get her strength back and work with her strength. The doctors have thought that this was a result of the chemo drug Evastin. Now that they are taking her off of this drug, they expect her energy level to increase. We will see.