less verbal

Mom barely talked at all today. Most of her communication was through her facial expressions and gestures-- nods, shakes of the head, etc. She also got the sniffles, which is always cause for caution.

Despite the ominous signs of a possible cold, today marked the end of Mom's antibiotic regimen. She's now officially off the daptomycin, but her PICC line will remain for the near future: the home care nurse still needs to draw blood samples, especially as Mom is about to restart her Temodar, a chemotherapy pill that will depress her immune system and once again make her vulnerable to infection. The docs hadn't wanted her on Temodar at the same time that she was on the dapto; they wanted her to be done fighting her MRSA before moving forward with the chemo.

So that's where we are now: about to take our first step into a very uncertain immediate future. Off the dapto, back on the chemo, and we'll see whether she's now strong enough to take the chemo without once again becoming infected. Mom has, unfortunately, proven very infection-prone, and her current self-sabotaging behavior hasn't helped matters (such as when she scraped her leg back open recently-- this after having tugged out her previous PICC line). In the midst of all these worries, her silence today seems almost like a minor matter, but in truth, we have no idea how significant it is.

Dad's got a medical checkup in the morning, then we've got Mom's radiotherapy in the afternoon. On Thursday, it's a full plate: a morning appointment with Dr. Meister, Mom's radiotherapy, another appointment with Dr. Tonnesen, then a visit from Pastor Jeri. On Friday, Mom's got radiotherapy as well a visit from a Korean friend from her old place of work (plus one or two other people?). It's going to be a busy rest-of-the-week.



ADDENDUM: I need to sneak in another note of thanks to the Criswells and to the Doe family for the food they gave us. I know I want the recipe for the rosemary chicken and potato dish, as well as for the addictive banana cream pie, and my brother David raved about the Tex-Mex "calupa" (that's how it was written on the packaging... not "chalupa"?) Thanks, as always, to all the good folks who bring us food, whether as part of the Friday Congregational Care Council's wonderful gesture to us, or as a friendly delivery any other day of the week.


_