Surgery for mom's chemo port to be placed was scheduled for Monday, May 17 at Shadyside Hospital. We knew it was imperative that she was healthy, hydrated, and had semi-solid BMs for this to take place.
As a voracious information junkie, I empowered myself by continuing to learn and understand what the hell was happening with my mom. I started diving deeply into genetics, as well as the medicine and chemistry of cancer, pretty much geeking out on details.
I started a Google doc on day one of this journey to be able to keep track of everything and everyone we met. My memory is beyond terrible, so it was critical that we have a working live document we can refer to regularly.
Prior to my mom's diagnosis, poop wasn't something we ever discussed. My how things have changed. We now have what we refer to as "The Poop Report," which is a daily proclamation of the number of times she poops, as well as the consistency according to the 1-10 scale we created:
1 is a watery explosion and 10 is solid as a rock.
She seems to be a number 3, more often than not. Anything below that is concerning.
Mom had some fun things (and some not-so-fun things) planned prior to her port surgery.
Up first: Shots in her eyes (Just when you think it can't get any worse😇)
Mom suffers from macular degeneration, so every 6 weeks, she goes to a specialist who treats her MD by injecting medication into her eyes 😭 It doesn't cure the condition, but it does slow the going blind process.
This just doesn't seem fair to me.
Nothing says "enjoy yourself before your chemo port is placed" like getting needles in your eyes.
Fortunately she had something to look forward to, and she had a fun day planned with her friends for "Club" that Friday. Church and lunch.
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