The Tender Work of Caring for Mom

Our darling mom is feeling relatively good after the end of week three. Bravo! She's been a little more tired from the radiation and chemo which is to be expected but overall she has been tolerating this phase of treatment well. She's had a bit of energy to putz around the house and in the backyard doing little things here and there. Then she enjoys a little break. We had a good visit with mom's chemo oncologist on Thursday. Her numbers are good and we are feeling confident moving forward. We were advised on medication dosages to help keep gout symptoms at bay. This was a huge relief to mom as she experienced a flare up early last week.  Mom has been loving all the special treatment these last few weeks! Under "normal" conditions, being chauffeured around town, wheeled around for quick appointments and having a personal chef and assistant would be considered a dream come true. We are definitely finding the sweet with bitter.  We went on an special outing to the Bo...

As many of you know, this year has had some remarkable and unexpected turns for our favorite chicken lady! In January, mom noticed some sudden visual changes and thanks to the advice of a dear friend, didn't hesitate to get it checked out right away. Miraculously, mom was able to get in quickly to several doctors who responded immediately with thorough testing. Within a week, mom received results that she had a brain tumor which was causing the loss of her peripheral vision in her right eye. She was referred to an expert neurosurgeon here in Idaho right away and within a matter of two weeks was scheduled for brain surgery to remove the tumor and to get it biopsied. She was very well cared for by St. Luke's and the entire neurosurgeon team but despite the excellent care and successful surgery, the biopsy results came back that she had a grade 4 glioblastoma. After consulting with her oncology team, mom opted to move forward with their recommendations for further treatment which ...