Mom’s Esophagus and Chemo Cycle 3

I promised you an update on Mom a few days ago. My brother has reminded me for two days that I’m a slacker. (He didn’t say it that way, he just loves to read these). So, read on to hear about Mom.

Mom’s Esophagus

Mom’s trip to the ER last Monday happened because she lost the ability to swallow. It was pretty frightening. It’s quite a paralyzing feeling to be unable to swallow. After several tests ruling out more serious things such as congestive heart failure or pleural effusion, they determined that it wasn’t a fluid retention issue. They moved on to an esophageal/upper GI focus and discovered that she had a very slow transit time due to her former gastric band surgery, causing stomach contents to back up into her esophagus. In addition, she had an esophageal stricture (basically, a dam of tissue) from years of reflux. All of this was exacerbated by the gastrointestinal inflammation that naturally happens as a chemotherapy side effect.

While they were doing all the testing to discover the problem, poor Mom was on a very filling diet of ice chips—not that she was really interested in anything further. She was well-supported with fluids and electrolytes, and she also got some platelets and blood because her counts were rather low during her stay, so we’re glad she was inpatient during that time so that was caught and addressed quickly.

On Friday, she had an endoscopy to stretch the gastric band and clean up the stricture. Biopsies were taken to rule out more serious infections, and she was treated with strong acid reducers. After successfully tolerating fluids, she was able to come home on Saturday afternoon so she could sleep in her own bed for a few nights before . . .

Chemotherapy Cycle 3

Mom was re-admitted to the hospital today to prep for her third chemotherapy cycle. The infusions will begin tomorrow. Like the last two, she will be admitted for 6 days, be discharged on Monday then return on Tuesday for outpatient immunotherapy.

So far, Mom has weathered her chemo like a champ! She’s had some nausea, but has found medicine that really helps with it. After this cycle, she will be having a repeat PET scan to see what her response to the treatments has been. The plan is for her to receive a total of six cycles, so this is the halfway point. Her doctor will use this PET scan to determine whether to adjust her dosage or the number of planned cycles going forward.

Mom is treated like a queen when she gets to the hospital for her inpatient infusions. I never worry about her and know that the staff there is treating her like she’s their own family. That’s such a comfort when I can’t be there because of Mike’s needs. I’m so thankful for the staff at our regional WVU Medicine hospital. They are priceless to us! Please keep praying for Mom, that she would tolerate this current cycle well and that every cancer cell in her body would be eradicated, while her good cells are protected.

P.S. The featured image for this post is of my mom and sister-in-law on our “Thanksgiving” in September. We wanted to have this special family time before Mike has his long stays at Duke later this year so we could enjoy each other with Mike’s favorite holiday meal. Isn’t my mom CUTE in that photo with her little turban??