Friday we met with Rory's Palliative Care nurse who has been managing several of her medications. We'll be watching Rory closely as she tapers off of the Fentanyl slowly. Definitely not interested in stopping it "cold turkey" and cause her to go through withdrawal symptoms!
We did get confirmation from Oncology that Rory will be able to use oral blood thinner medication. She was prescribed twice-daily injections because that's what they "have always used" for patients undergoing active cancer treatment. Dr. Esplin keeps up with much of the current research, and apparently they have finally been studying the effectiveness and side effects of ORAL rather than INJECTION blood thinners, and found them to be adequate. We're waiting for the new prescription to arrive, and it will be nice to reduce her daily injection regimen by two. Being on blood thinners does mean that Ibuprofen is no longer an option for her. Time to buy stock in the maker of Tylenol!
Rory definitely "gears up" for big events, and Saturday morning was one of those. Colton's Special Needs Basketball (Vipers) team was hosted by Jordan High School for an exhibition game, and that's definitely not something to be missed! It's an incredible event for Colton's team, as evidenced by how much they talk about it all year long. Smiles and high-fives and jumping and cheering are in great abundance for the entire event. The school brings out the varsity team, JV team, drill team, cheerleaders, officiating crew, and members of the band. There was a hand-painted GO VIPERS banner decorating one of the walls this year. Lots of family and students show up, mostly to cheer on the Vipers (and good-naturedly "jeer" the Beetdiggers). The teams battle it out pretty fiercely, but the Vipers have a long-standing winning streak. I think this year's final score was 118-117 in favor of the Vipers. And Rory was right there in the stands, hollering and cheering especially loudly every time Colton had the ball.
Otherwise the week has been mostly low-key, low-energy. Some of her more inconvenient symptoms from the Xeloda have returned, such as peeling skin and nephropathy in her feet. Based on instructions from Dr. Esplin that she would be on a "very short leash" after restarting the chemo, to watch for those symptoms, she's reduced her dosage again already. We'll see how things go over the next couple of days, but she is authorized to reduce it even further if symptoms persist.
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