It's been a crazy week for me, and I just haven't felt up to sending out information until now. So here's the latest.

The surgery appears to have gone well. The not so great news is that the tumour showed growth in the 3 weeks since they were last in there, indicating how aggressive a cancer the carcinosarcoma is. She's going to have a battle ahead of her, once she's healed up from the surgeries. Her colour has been improving each day, but she's completely wiped out, and not doing much movement. She was also going in for another CT scan today, this time of her head, because she has a swelling on the side of her neck/face. They think it might be a blocked duct from the salivary gland - which is apparently something that can happen when you haven't eaten for a long time.

There is some good news to report, though. If you're squeamish, move on to the next paragraph. If not, there's cause for celebration because there was a small amount of poop in the colostomy bag today. It's a fantastic sign, and we can all hope that it continues. The nurse was very excited, and Mum said they should put it in a baggie to show the Doctors. They decided not to do that.

My brother James is down for a visit for the weekend, so it's great that he and Mum are getting a chance to see each other. It also gave me a chance to hang with my brother, then take the afternoon off to do some retail therapy while he visits out at the hospital.

We're all thankful for all the good wishes coming our way. And she does appreciate visitors, but please keep visits short, and only one person at a time, since she's just so fatigued.

Much love to all,
Kate

Hi, everybody.

It's been a pretty good week for Mum. She's healing quite well. Her spirits are generally good. Her energy is still very low, but she's getting up more each day. And last night she got to have ice cream for dinner! No one minds that! (Well, except for the lactose intolerant, I guess) It is such a positive sign in her recovery. Her bowels appear to be continuing to function, so we'll see what happens with real food.

She had been scheduled to go to the cancer agency in Vancouver yesterday for her initial assessment, but it was cancelled. I don't entirely understand why, but it had something to do with them deciding that she could just see Dr. Noble (oncologist) at the hospital. That seems okay while she's in the hospital, but once she's out, it makes way more sense to go to a clinic across town rather than 2 cities away. I'm going to talk to the doctors and lobby to have another appointment booked with the Cancer agency.

One of the resident doctors who had been treating Mum finished her rotation recently, and gave Mum a beautiful card saying how much she'd been touched by Mum's spirit and continuing smile, how much she'd enjoyed working with her, and how she was going to miss seeing her. Needless to say, Mum was floored, so I reminded her we all think she's awesome. Pretty special stuff.

Anyway, I think that's all I've got for now. Thanks again for all the love, good wishes etc. We couldn't do it without you all!

Love,
Kate

Hello everyone.

When I arrived yesterday at the hospital the nurse told me they'd moved Mum again to a private room, with contact precautions. I guess there's some of that nasty antibiotic-resistant staph (MRSA) in the hospital and they were isolating her in case it was coming from her wound. She's currently in room 309, and when you visit you need to wear gloves and a gown. They were doing blood work so I'm not sure what's going to happen if the infection isn't her and they need to isolate someone else but I guess I'll find out today when I get there.

I spoke to the doctor yesterday, and I wish I had some good news for a change, but the tumour is interfering with her kidney function. They're going to put tubes up into her kidneys next week - done with an xray, not a surgery, thankfully - to keep the tubes open. They've decided that they need to do chemotherapy ASAP to try to slow the growth of the tumour. They don't normally do it when a patient is recovering so recently from surgeries but I guess circumstances warrant taking the risk.

Not great news by any stretch of the imagination but I wanted to keep everyone updated. I've taken the day off work and will be heading out to the hospital in a couple hours.

Thanks for the continued support. Please pray for/visualize white blood cells to flood the tumour and chew it up, leaving healthy, clean tissue behind.
Kate