Our Mom’s Fight Against Colon Cancer

Hello,

We wanted to start a blog for our mom as a way to keep everyone updated and keep our family and friends connected. Also we hope this site will help anyone researching colon cancer for a loved one.

As many of you already know our mom Kim was diagnosed with metastic colon cancer June 23, 2008. She is only 54 years old and has always been in good health. So as you can imagine it came as quite a shock. Especially since her mom is 85 and cancer does not run in the family. Immediately after her diagnosis she was hospitalized 12 days to run tests and scans in order to determine how far the cancer had spread. We were devastated to learn that she had several masses in her liver and two in her lungs. Thankfully there were no tumors in her brain or bones.

Due to mom’s illness she has been unable to continue working and dad is only able to work very part time since he has become her full time care giver. We realize this is a tough economy but every little bit helps. Anyone who is able and would like to contribute can donate through the website.

We would like to thank all our family and friends who have showed their love and concern. We are truly blessed to have such a loving support system. For anyone out there going through a cancer diagnosis our thoughts and prayers are with you. It is such an emotional rollercoaster and can be very overwhelming. Stay strong and keep positive!  Please remember to have a colonoscopy when you turn 50!

Way to go mom! Two for two results came back with good news. Mom’s thyroid biopsies came back benign. Also her bone scan came back clear of cancer. We are so happy that the cancer is not spreading.

Mom has been doing a strict chemo regime and even though it gets her down sometimes she is having good results.

Ari and I had a great visit with mom last weekend while she was on her off chemo week. We were able to go Sunday to the convention, it was so encouraging.  We had a good time shopping and eating out and getting together with friends and family. Of course mom spoiled Ari with new toys including a riding toy airplane and a gigantic dog dog. Love you mom. xoxo

Mom had a ct scan last month and we were told that the tumors in her liver were shrinking, which was great news. Then when mom had a follow up dr apt they said that there are some lumps in her thyroid and also some suspicious activity around her tail bone that they saw on the scan as well. Mom has seen a thyroid specialist now and he put her on a new medication since her thyroid is not producing enough hormones. They will be doing an ultra sound and biopsy of the thyroid August 13th to determine if this is a new cancer, new metastasis, or hopefully benign tumors. Also she had been having some pain around her tail bone so since they saw something down there in the scan they are going to do a full body radiation scan of the bones there as well to see what it is exactly on August 16th. We are hoping it is nothing. Mom has been chugging along on chemo and we are hoping that things will continue shrinking and that there will be no more new tumors.

Mom had a CT scan last week to find out if the tumors in her liver have been shrinking. We found out today that the largest one in her liver that measured 12cm is now 9cm. Great news! We are so happy that this chemo along with the biweekly infusion is working. It has been tough on mom being back on chemo  between the nausea and weakness. But worst of all is the side effects from the infusion that cause her to get blisters and hives from head to toe. They are very painful and itchy. They are clearing up though and we are hoping they will stay that way. I have to say she is doing quite well considering… She has maintained her appetite and is getting around really well. It’s nice to have some positive results.

We are off to Oahu next Thursday for an overly needed beach vacation. Mom is going to take an extra week off chemo and her and dad are going to come too. Yeah! We can’t wait.

Mom and I flew to Arizona Thursday for a long weekend with Sarah and the family. Many of you have already heard that mom is back on chemo. She is taking the pill form called Xeloda this time instead of the Folfox. So far she seems to be tolerating this one more than in the past though there are still many bad side effects. We just found out after several weeks of waiting that mom is a candidate for the Martha Stewart drug that is suppose to increase the effectiveness of the chemo by twice as much. Her pathology reports show that she is not a carrier of the mutated gene so it should work. She will go in to have an infusion of this biweekly. This is mom’s off week so she will be starting chemo and the infusion next Tuesday. She has already finished one round of the chemo so far.

Mom looks great and you wouldn’t even be able to tell she is on chemo. So far no hair loss or weight loss. We are really looking forward to doing the relay for life tomorrow here in Mesa. Sarah and our team of walkers have already raised $1500 and we still have lots to sell tomorrow and auction off.  It will be especially sad though since we will be walking in memory of our beloved grandmother who walked last year with us but then lost her battle with cancer just a few months later. It is a very emotional event in so many ways. But we are so thankful to have our beautiful mom to be walking with us again. She is such an inspiration to us girls.

I would also like to take a minute and thank all of you who have donated recently to help with my mom’s medical needs. Now that she is back on chemo her co-pay for the chemo and prescriptian drugs are very pricey and they really appreciate all the help covering these costs. Some of you have received cancer bracelets for your donations so if you haven’t or would like to contribute please make sure to post a comment and we will be sure you do. Thanks for all the support.

Now that mom is back in Sacramento we arranged for her to see local doctors from UC Davis. Mom had a CT Scan done of her abdomen a few weeks ago and we were sad to hear that there has been significant progression of the cancer in her liver. One tumor that was a little over 9cm when she was first diagnosed and shrank to 7cm is now at 12cm. It has been over 8 months since her last scan so we are not sure how long it has been growing. But just the past few months mom’s CEA had gone up. The doctors want her to have a CT Scan of her chest now to see if there has been any more tumors in her lungs. They concluded that her cancer is active again and so we need to figure out what to do. Of course they want mom to be on chemo the rest of her life but mom has already done 7months worth with little benefit. She is going to ask her doctor if she would benefit from the pill form of chemo called Xeloda since the side effects are not nearly as bad as Folfox. We should know more in the next couple of weeks. Also mom is trying to plan her next trip to Mexico to make some adjustments to her treatment from the Bio Medical Center. So any donations you could make toward that will be much appreciated. Thank you so much for the phone calls and concern.

Mom and I are making these beautiful swarovski crystal bracelets for the relay for life. These cancer bracelets raise awareness and represent all types of cancer. The first five people to donate $30 or more will receive this unique bracelet in the mail.

This will be our second year participating in the relay for life in Arizona. This cause has become very important to us since we lost our grandma to cancer recently and our mom is still fighting. We are determined to raising money to help find a cure. Sarah has spent a lot of her time organizing this event to make sure that it is a big success. Thank you for your support.

After being discharged from the hospital mom recouped here in Arizona for about a week when she was  ready to hit the roads and head back to California. Mom and dad were there for a couple of weeks enjoying their new grand baby and visiting family. Then they hit the road again and drove to visit long time friends in Montana. They truly enjoyed themselves and it was really nice for our mom to get away and to rejuvenate up in the beautiful state of Montana. Thank you Tony and Cindy!!

They are now back in Arizona visiting for a couple of weeks. Mom has a few doctors appointments and a follow up appointment with her surgeon Dr. Heppel this Friday. Today’s appointment with her pallative doctor went really well. Her blood work showed that her blood count has gone up to 12 which is really good. Next week they are headed to beautiful Sedona Arizona to spend a week for their Anniversary. After 16 long months of being diagnoised with *cancer* mom is FINALLY getting to a point where she is starting to feel better.  This is something we’ve all been wanting to see for a long time!

 After spending time in Sedona mom and dad will head back to California. Mom will continue to go back and forth between Arizona and California due to doctor’s visits, and of course her grand babies.

We will continue to post but remember no news is sometimes good news

Just a quick update. Mom was released out of the hospital yesterday afternoon. She’s happy to be out of the hospital. Mom will be recovering here in Arizona for the next few weeks before she heads back to California. She’s pretty sore and tired but she is feeling better each day.

Mom is still in the hospital. She thought she might be going home today but she won’t be able to since she is still on oxygen and high pain meds. She will possibly be released tomorrow depending on how she does today. I forgot to post that mom didn’t have c-diff after all. They took precautionary methods because she had it last year and they didn’t tell us that was why visitors had to wear the coverings. That was a relief to know she didn’t have to deal with that as well.