Positive Signs!

So it's Tuesday and my mom has been in the hospital since Sunday and we're hearing some good news.

The Fevers:
The recurrent fevers seem to be coming from the cancer being destroyed and not from any infection in the Kidneys or the body.

The Pain
The doc from Infectious diseases came by to take a look and did some physical examinations and was confident that the pain was not coming from the kidneys. So where is it coming from? Well, the cancer did swell up and it has affected the lymph nodes in the immediate area and has clamped down on the ureter. They seem sure that it has something to do with that. As a result, the pain center is hopefully going to get her on a regimen that will allow her to function without pain and get her out of the hospital.

They also conducted a bone scan today to rule out any bone concerns. Hopefully the test will be negative and we can be sure that the only things affecting mom is cancer. If that's the case, then we're going full steam ahead.

After coming back from the Body Scan, mom was having bad pain and needed an IV change. The IV team was attempting to put the needle in the right forearm and before that happened Pop left. Not sure if he could watch mom squirming like she eventually did. I attempted to experience the pain myself by making some sort of weird mix of facial expressions attempting to express my empathy. Either way, Pop had to leave for work and the IV team failed to put the IV in the forearm. Thanks for poking her so much only to finish it in 5 minutes with an IV in the hand.

So what's next?
Well, a lot actually. Mom has been undergoing minor bouts of radiation to accommodate a possible kidney infection. Now that we are reasonably sure that there is no infection and the fevers are related (possibly) to the cancer cells dieing off and the pain from the cancer itself or lymph node swelling, mom can start with the regular bouts of radiation that she needs to fight. Chemo will likely happen soon and we need to weed her off the IV medication and onto some pill versions so that they can manage her pain. From the little i know, pain is a way of life for cancer patients at least for a short while. Hopefully some positive steps can be made that not only take care of her pain but also get her out of the hospital.

At the moment, mom is sleeping after getting her delaudid. While it's does not work as well as she hopes, she'll be getting some quick release morphine tabs which we hope will be better than what she is getting at the moment.

She's done awesome thus far despite being pricked like a pin cushion. Let's hope this continues to move forward in a positive direction.