Skip to main content

Still Waiting for a Diagnosis

Texts to a friend

Giving him something to drink to trap and expel toxins.
Dr said he has at this point about 25% chance which can 
up if diagnosis is a germ cell or go down if a different type 
or if his liver stops improving. Hoping by early week liver is 
ready and have pathology in. Already has oncologist biting
 at the bit to get started. Worse case, tumor cuts off something 
important before treatment can start or treatment needs to 
start before diagnosis, (he doesn’t expect that). Of course we 
understand, there can be numerous complications.
Sent March 8


Our moods go up and down. He is on oxygen, 
blood thinner and needs to use a walker.
Sent March 8

                              
                                        Are you driving back and forth a lot?
        Rec’d March 8


I usually stay 36 hours at a time.
Sent March 8

Is his Dad doing the same?
Rec’d March 8



Not as often because he
manages a Firestone. His wife 
stays overnight sometimes
but they have a 13 year old
with Downs Syndrome who
needs routine.
Sent March 8


Oh man.
Rec’d March 8


Is there anything he needs or wants? 
Rec’d March 8


I’ll ask him. His legs are so swollen
he’s in large shorts. I think once
he is home he may need some
things.
He wants a way to wash his hair without water.
Sent March 8


I will look that up for you.
 Rec’d March 8

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

About this Blog, A Journey Through Sarcoma

Confections for Cats, A Journey through Sarcoma is a chronicle of my son's journey through Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma. It is intended to educate and inspire by using Mathew’s thoughts and feelings, dreams and fears through a variety of mediums; art, music, and writing. Through factual experience, what we learned and what we wish we had known. Mathew’s desire was to give meaning to his journey and in the process help anyone else on a similar path. The last possible explanation in my mind for my son’s health problems was cancer. Even the words “the scan shows a large mass” didn’t lead me to conclude cancer and when the cancer diagnosis was confirmed, I still wasn’t prepared. My Mother is a breast cancer survivor and my sister Elizabeth passed away three years after her breast cancer diagnosis. I thought I knew what cancer treatment and living with cancer looked like, but none of us could imagine or be prepared for how all semblance of routine and normalcy had alre...

When a Cancer Patient Has a Medical Emergency

3 Days in the DRC, Part 1 If you haven’t read my first post about the DRC at Moffitt and how it works, since Moffitt does not have an ER, you can read about it here.  https://confectionsforcats.blogspot.com/2018/04/neutropenic-fever-after-ie-chemo-and.html In summary, the DRC is where an existing Moffitt patient is directed to go if they have a medical emergency.  Usually, we would be there a few hours or overnight (since we arrived at midnight or shortly afterward) until they had a room for Mathew on the ward. This particular visit Mathew stayed in the DRC three days. As mentioned in my other post, the DRC has maybe two rooms with a bathroom; otherwise, one bathroom for about a dozen patients. In Mathew’s case, a patient with a lowered immune system.  This time Mathew was in the room furthest from the bathroom.  When inpatient, we had a routine for getting him to the bathroom. First, he needed the IV unplugged (often quickly) and most times, I ...

The Chemo Bell at Moffitt Cancer Center

Bells ring.  Bells, chime, toll, peal, resonate and resound. Bells foretell, warn and celebrate. The Chemo Bell The Survivor Bell Cancer Centers have one or several large bells, each with a large clapper. They are mounted on the wall and when a patient receives their last chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer they ring that bell. Mathew and I heard the Chemo Bell in the Infusion Center at Moffitt ring one time. Early on our journey. Everyone clapped and cheered. Mat and I stopped and looked at the bell that day and I thought at that time, it was a possibility for Mathew. Bells have a vibration. When a chemo bell rings, when a person survives cancer (even if it’s for a short time) they resound for the rest of us. Their survival reverberates and gives the rest of us hope.  I found another chemo bell on the 5th floor at Moffitt, in the hallway, past the patient rooms.  Next to the chemo bell was a copy of a photo of a patient surrounded ...