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!

We are deeply saddened to have to write this final post. Our beautiful mother at the age of 56 lost her fight to cancer on Wednesday January 19th. Her services will be held at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses Saturday January 29th at 3pm. The address is 4145 Garfield Ave. Carmichael, CA 95608. Thank you for all your prayers and support during this very emotional and difficult time.

Mom was released from the hospital this afternoon around 1:00. It was so sweet that when we got to the house there were pizzas delivered from our parents dear friends that live out of town. It was just such a thoughtful thing to do and it was perfect timing that I had to share it.

Mom was pretty exhausted after 2 nights in the hospital with out much sleep so she has been resting since she got home. She has some new pain meds and anti nausea meds so we hope this will help her feel better. Sarah flew back to mom and dad’s for the week and so I came home for a couple days but will be back this weekend. It’s probably best to contact Sarah or dad before visiting so they can make sure it’s a good time and that there are not to many visitors at once since mom gets worn out easy. Thank you everyone for your love and support.

Mom had an ultra sound this morning and we still haven’t really heard the results from it. It must be conclusive with the ct scan that showed that one of the tumors in her liver is creating a blockage or obstruction of some sort. They don’t seem very concerned about the swelling in her stomach and we are hoping that when she gets home and moves around it will go down. The nurse told us this is a symptom of the chemo. They gave her some stuff to clean out her bowels so that should help. They also gave her bags of magnesium since she was dangerously low and could go into cardiac arrest. They drew more blood this evening so as long as everything is where it needs to be they will release her tomorrow. They told her she should not do anymore chemo and that there is really not much more they can do so they recommended hospice which mom had to bite her tongue to contain herself. She thinks that once hospice comes it’s like giving up but that’s not it at all. Mom has been having a harder time taking care of ordering and making sure she has all of her prescriptions and going to her doctor appointments. This way they will be able to come to her and help with things and manage her pain. This has been a very difficult past few days and we are so grateful for all the family that has been with us at the hospital. Thank you April for sleeping there the past 2 nights and making sure mom was never alone. We will be diligent about posting any updates during this difficult time so please be patient with us if we can’t call or text back right away.

I haven’t posted since mom did an intense round of chemo 3weeks ago Monday. She was terribly sick and could not keep anything down. We were very afraid she would become dehydrated since over 50% of people on that chemo die of dehydration. Mom really didn’t want to have to go to the hospital for fluids but she was in alot of pain and not recovering like she usually does after a round of chemo. So Mom had blood work taken on Monday to see what was going on and her oncologist was notified the next day that her liver was obstructed and that mom needed to go to the hospital right away. Her white blood cell count should be around 10,000 and is at 20,000. Could mean an infections also he was not sure without  having a scan if her liver was needing to be drained or if it was the cancer growing and obstructing it. Her stomach and liver were very swollen and she was becoming jaundice. We waited most of the day for mom to have a bed ready so they didn’t admit her until about 4:30. They gave her fluids and potassium since she was very dehydrated. Finally they took her down to do a CT Scan at 9pm last night. We will have the results hopefully soon and I will post when I find out. Thank you for all your kind words and prayers.

So I’ve been dreading posting about mom’s latest ct scan. Sadly they found progression with her tumors in her liver as well as a new one in her liver, lungs and one in her chest near her heart. So obviously the chemo she has been on the past 7months is no longer working. Mom and dad are going to take 2 weeks and go on a vacation to Puerto Vallarta and stay at their time share. I’m so happy for them they really need to get away and just relax. When she gets back she will most likely go on Irinotecan chemotherapy biweekly. We will post more soon.

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.