so it went like this...

According to Dad, Mom's 9:30AM appointment ran until about 10:15AM. Dad had apparently called the radiology department last night about rescheduling Mom for an earlier time; he and Mom went to radiology after the visit with Dr. Leiphart and snagged a noon radiotherapy appointment. Dad and Mom hit lunch after that, then came home. Dad went right back out to perform some errands. He's home right now (4:30PM), but is going out again to do more errands while I watch over Mom.

When Mom and Dad were out, I managed to get the laundry done, and also mowed the front lawn. When Dad went back out, leaving Mom home with me, Mom started puttering around the kitchen, ultimately spending two hours obsessively wiping the counters and the sink. She also did a few dishes, but because of her perseveration (a mental tendency to linger over or repeat ideas, utterances, and actions), she left the water running a long, long time. I'll have to do a better job of curbing some of Mom's stranger tendencies.

Dad's heading out to do more errands, and I need to start thinking about what's for dinner. We're finally done with all the hot dogs and hamburgers, and we just finished off a major load of salad.

Ah, yes-- Dr. Leiphart. He's apparently happy with Mom's healing, and he wants to see her again on August 13. Mom is supposed to finish up her daptomycin regimen at the end of July; her radiotherapy is in full swing, and the chemotherapy is supposed to start sometime in early August, if I'm not mistaken. Dr. Leiphart answered a question I had about the phase shift in Mom's chemotherapy schedule; as you'll recall, I had wondered about what was to be done, now that the two therapies are no longer in tandem. The answer is that Mom will not make up the chemo she's missed. In other words, she'll resume chemo in early August, finishing it up in tandem with the radiotherapy. Dr. Leiphart believes that Mom's chemo can't be made up as if it were missed coursework. When radiotherapy ends, Mom will have her one-month break, but during that break, she'll have her new synthetic bone flap put in.

I hope we speak with Dr. Meister about all this. I'm vexed that Mom is being deprived of her full chemo regimen. The doctor's rationale, according to Dad, is that giving Mom the full six weeks of chemo will be ineffective because it won't be happening in conjunction with the radiation-- the two go together. But if that's the case, then (1) why is Mom supposed to take the Temodar over the weekend, when radiotherapy doesn't occur, and (2) why will Mom be taking Temodar for several months after her one-month break? The doc's answer doesn't make immediate sense to me, which is why I need some clarification. I'm not pretending to know more than the doctor, but as things stand, the information I have doesn't add up to a coherent picture.

Aside from the above concerns, though, it appears that Mom is back on track, therapy-wise. I imagine she'll have her PICC line removed at the end of July or in early August, once the daptomycin regimen is finished. It'll be nice not to have to tiptoe around Mom's right arm all the time.


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