"yes" and "no"

I'm becoming familiar with the cycle now. Whenever Mom's brain experiences swelling, the resultant edema exerts pressure, and Mom suffers cognitive impairment. We're witnessing the return of her perseverative behavior these days, perhaps as a result of Mom's third mass; she often has trouble responding even to simple yes/no questions, staring at me instead of answering. But this morning and this evening, Mom has seemed a bit more responsive. She said "yes" to shopping with Dad and David; she said "yes" to a nice, big bowl of budae-jjigae. During the afternoon, Mom was a bit spacey, but that was only for a few hours.

I find myself hoping for Thursday to come more quickly, because Mom gets her first infusion of Avastin that day. I know the measure is palliative-- Avastin is not a cure-- but I can't help thinking that anything that prolongs Mom's ability to experience and enjoy the world is a good thing.

Mom's tired and seems to want to go to sleep early. She sleeps a lot these days. Today, even though she woke up in the late morning, she was functional only from about 3PM to 9:30PM. I wonder where this pattern is taking us.


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