The last time Emily blogged, we were outside in the sun. Just hours after her last post, a stomachache set in that still has yet to go away. She struggled with eating, drinking, and especially taking orders to do so from myself or my parents! She couldn't keep much down on Friday or Saturday but relaxation and force-feeding have seemed to do the trick as she ate an ENTIRE wedge salad tonight (this is a big deal.)
Now that I am home on spring break, I get to spend more time with Emily and I try my best to understand the kind of pain that the inflammation in her lungs causes her at all times. Its so hard to see her in so much pain all the time and there is nothing we can do about it except wait it out and take some Motrin.
The visitors keep coming and most of the time help her to relax and enjoy the company of people other than my family. Today during a visit from Mrs. Kurtz and Tori earlier today, Emily received a phone call from my dad saying that a short visit to S20 was necessary- the doctors needed to look at her. Because her reaction to the chemo is SO VERY rare, they don't have all of the answers. The good news is, her blood counts were very good thanks to all the spinach she has been eating (credit to my mom for this one!) You should see Emily light up when we find out the counts are good. While in the room, the doctors gave us a plan in a way that made me feel like we were in the locker room before a big game-- the big game being the two huge doses of cysplat and dox that she is on for getting on Wednesday (chemo drugs.) These are supposed to be the "hard" drugs, but relatively speaking, probably not so bad for emily because of her reaction to methatrexate that she constantly calls "garbage."
Anyhow, after the visit, Emily and my dad got to visit with my Uncle Jack and Aunt Diane where she ate more than she has probably since chemo started. THIS IS GREAT NEWS and means a stress free household if only for a few hours!
Gotta love my family!
Much love to all and apologies for Emily's laziness with blogging. She has really, really been feeling crappy and I'm not one to sugar coat anything this really is not fun for any of us BUT she can laugh now which makes it a lot easier for Mark to be in the house :) We are home and relaxing no big worries until Wednesday!
GAME ON
ps "I miss Greg" #emily
--Mackenzie and Mark
Yay for food!! Yay for good numbers!! Yay for down time with Kenz, and yay for the upside on the "big chemo drugs" being slightly less miserable because the methotrexate reaction is garbage. Love you, Em. Love all of the Team. You will get through. As always, love from Kansas. xoxo
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update, Mackenzie. Managing cancer is challenging not only for the patient, but for the patient's family, as well. You are a doll. Love to all of Team Evans from Shanghai, China!
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Connie
Hi Emily and family:
ReplyDeleteIt's Mrs. Tandon here, "Random friend of your mom's friend Jenn" (RFOYMFJ?). I just wanted you to know how much all of you have been on my mind. A few days ago I had a wicked headache and I was lying in my bed squishing my face into my pillow and praying for my meds to kick in. Then my mind shifted to you, Emily, and instead of wallowing in my own discomfort, I started taking a mental stock of what you are going through and I tried to send you (and your peeps) a positive vibe for each hurdle I could imagine you facing. (It took quite a while!). My favorite part was when I imagined your cancer cells - I yelled at them and told them to leave you alone. I suppose you've had a few choice words for those cells as well.
Wishing you all the best as you face this next hurdle. It really sucks that you have to go through this. Your blog and your journey is meaningful to many people and I'm wishing you all the strength and good wishes I can from my little corner of New England. All the best, RFOYMFJ .