back but going out again

Well, we waited until 1PM, but Pastor Kim (not to be confused with my church's Pastor Kim) never showed up. Was he lost? Was he busy? Did he forget that today was his day to visit? We'll never know, I guess, unless he contacts us, which he apparently didn't. I see no message signal on our answering machine.

More important: when Mom and I arrived at the hospital today, the nurses were uneasy about the way Mom currently looks and acts. As I've noted, Mom is weaker and has issues with her balance. She's also manifesting more perseveration than ever in the form of little obsessive behaviors, such as wiping the kitchen counter with her hands, over and over again. She's also nonverbal; along with this, she has, bizarrely, a very good appetite. I had mused earlier that we might be looking at new neurological symptoms, and Dr. Tonnesen, the radiation oncologist, seemed to agree. The nurses had called the doc over to look at Mom before her scheduled radiotherapy, and he was more alarmed than I was at what appears to be too drastic a change for radiotherapy to account for.

So Mom is going to a medical center near the hospital this evening to have an MRI done. The appointment's at 9PM, but we have to be there at 8:30, probably to check in and process paperwork. MRI results will be known either tonight or tomorrow; since we have to take Mom in tomorrow, anyway, the latest we'll know the results is early afternoon. It's possible we'll know something by morning.

Dr. Tonnesen wants to rule out a number of potential problems, from aggressive tumor regrowth to the return of infection and/or edema caused by an assortment of possible factors. If it turns out that Mom does have a new problem in her skull, this will likely mean yet more surgery-- her fifth operation since April 16.

Expect updates as we find out more.


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