Post 8

 Hello Everyone,

I’m so sorry for the delay in the posts. I am back in Flagstaff. Mom is fine. She is just really sensitive to noise so she has not been communicating too much with people.

The last week or two when I was in Ohio trying to help Mom, I came down with bronchitis. I was quarantined to one side of the house and Mom was quarantined on the other. Dad had his hands full checking on the both of us. After a few days of antibiotics I flew home to Flagstaff. Mom can’t be around sick people and I needed to get back to check on my brother and prepare for an internship. This past weekend my sorority sisters who have already graduated planned to stay at my house with my other roommates for the annual Homecoming weekend (planned last year). The amount of girls to the ratio of one unknowing brother did not seem like a good matchup to have him handle by himself. All is well on that front. The house is secure. The ladies are “back home” and Michael is beginning to emerge from the basement again. He actually was so busy with school and work I wonder if they bothered him very much anyway.

I will be going to Las Vegas for an internship starting Monday, Oct. 29^th. I have my diploma from NAU in Hospitality Restaurant Management, but would like to have some corporate experience in event planning. I will be there for five weeks. I told Mom I could post pone my internship, but she insisted that I go and that she and Dad were getting along fine. Dad is hoping it will turn into something that really pays money this time haha (me too!).

Mom had her last intrathecal (spinal) on Monday, Oct 8^th. It left her with a lot of headaches at the base of her skull and neck. She told Dr. Gowda on the following Monday, Oct. 15^th. Dr. Gowda was concerned, but hoped that the fluids from the chemo that day would help relieve the headaches. She said that the fluid from the last intrathecal had most likely not been built back up yet, and that was why was the nerve endings around her brain were so sensitive. When Mom received the fluids from the chemo, it did help the headaches at the base of her skull and neck.

However, her headaches are not gone. She now has them on the left side of her head and she will ask the doctor what to do about those headaches tomorrow. She would normally of had her next spinal on Monday, Oct. 22^nd, but Dr. Gowda was out of town and will not be back until tomorrow. So that is why Mom’s spinal treatment is set up for Wednesday, Oct. 24^th.

Mom has not wanted to talk on the phone lately because she is so sensitive to noise. Dad says she’s been tapping cotton balls to everything to try and muffle the noise, but it still is not working for her. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with next. (Probably some Styrofoam contraptions from the art supplies she has down stairs). Dad says the kitchen cupboards have cotton balls on them, but she still doesn’t like the sound, or the sound of the dishwasher, or the sound of the aeration pump that comes on in the afternoon and retreats to the rooms farthest away from the noise and closes the door. When Dad leaves in the morning to go to work, he tells Mom to rest and asks her to “keep those noisy cupboards under control,” if she could. She always smiles at his jokes.

Mom has taken to watching some TV with her eyes squinted and the sound off. That way she can filter how much information she gets bombarded with. Dad says when he comes home from work it’s not too bad watching the baseball playoffs with the sound off, but it is a little hard to watch the presidential debates with the sound turned off. J (Mom puts in her earplugs for that). She has silicone earplugs all over the house. Originally they were for the tubes they put in her ears, but now she uses them to filter the noise (everything really – except Dad). She always likes to hear what he has to say.

Mom also doesn’t like smells. She made dinner yesterday and could smell the onions and the celery through the night. Dad said he got up this morning to make Mom oatmeal for breakfast. He asked when she was still in bed if she could smell it, but she could only smell the trash. The trash is getting emptied a lot these days. And if you know Mom she does not like the edges of the liners falling in the cans, so she always gets really big liners for the containers. There are probably more liners than garbage in the trash.

The last couple of weeks, Mom has been taking quite a few warm baths. Her feet don’t get the circulation that they are used to from not swimming or walking, so they get cold. She gets in warm tubs to “even-out” her body temperature and sooth her stomach. She seems to rub her belly a lot. Both of which probably help with digestion although she does not complain about it.

I will have to get Dad to take some pictures of Mom and her bald head. She is self conscious, but Dad, Michael and I think she is still beautiful. Perhaps tomorrow he can get some of the nurses to help take pictures.

I know Mom is not looking forward to another intrathecal tomorrow, because of the headaches it might bring and she does not like being on those steroids. She says it’s like being trapped in a fidgety body with a headachy, wonky brain because of the medications. But Dad will be able to be with her the whole time. It does help being the boss sometimes. He is just a phone call away if she needs him. She really does just like the quiet when she is at home.

She has been reading books on her new Nook that Dad got her. Aunt Leah said it was not a good idea to be getting all of the germs she was getting from the books at the public library. Mom said it was pretty cool that they had over a million free books to download. They are not necessarily the most popular books, and a lot of them are short stories (not real books), but it is keeping her occupied and she can focus on them at her own pace. She will be able to download books from the library electronically when she feels better.

My cousin Maddie, Mick’s daughter, called the other day to let my Mom know that was she was going to be raising money for lymphoma cancer research, and that she was going to grow out her hair so that she could donate it to “Locks of Love.” My Mom knew that Maddie had a big tender heart, but was very touched by her commitment to help her “Aunt Ronnah.” I am so grateful that I got to know Maddie and Morgan and the whole family when I went to flower school in Portland. They sure made me feel special.

Picture of Maddie, Morgan and I when I was in Portland a little over a year ago.

“Locks of Love” has a new meaning for us these days for Mom. They meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. (Mom wishes she would have learned more about what was going on with my cousin, Katrina, when she was so young having to go through cancer treatments and spinal taps for her Leukemia).

Mom is doing well. Dad is doing well. She is not communicating right now because of the noise, but she is strong and determined to get through this without people fussing over her. So when she feels like talking a little more, I will get more information out to you. Thank you again for all of your thoughts, prayers and well wishes. She feels empowered by all of your love.

Love, Keah