So... last Sunday mom calls me and says "I think this headache behind my left eye is getting worse."
It started between Christmas and New years and she had been "treating" it with aspirin and ibuprofen. I, as I sometimes stubbornly do, put my foot down. I called our friend Loetta, who works for mom's ophthalmologis... uh... opticia... eye doctor. She convinced me to call him, even though it was Sunday, so he would squeeze mom in the next day. (Thank you, Loetta!)
Monday - Long story short - we saw Dr. Gorovoy - he found nothing.
I had planned ahead and scheduled an appt later in the afternoon with mom's regular doctor. She scheduled a CT scan and bloodwork for the next day.
Tuesday - CT Scan and bloodwork
Wednesday - I received a call from mom's Dr. at about 9:00am - I knew that if they already had the results, it probably wasn't good news... She was obviously upset - and informed me they had found a mass about 1 inch in diameter in the periatal area of her brain. She said she just couldn't bring herself to call mom, so I told her I would go over and tell mom face to face (thought it was better that way, anyway)
Thursday - we met with mom's radiologist (Dr. Mantz) and his Nurse Practitioner (Beth Patrizzi) These folks were with us for all of mom's lung cancer treatments and were absolutely amazing! They were VERY positive and explained the treatments that mom will be receiving over the next 4-5 weeks (on a daily basis). They took measurements to fit her in a mask type thing that will get bolted to the table so she will be perfectly still while receiving the radiation. They will be treating her whole brain because they said that often if cancer has metastasized (a fancy word for SPREAD) at all, there were probably more spots on her brain that we could not see yet... better to be safe than sorry... They stated that about 6 months to a year down the road, we may see some effects from the radiation in regards to mom's memory, etc. PRAY THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN!
Friday - we went to see mom's oncologist (Dr. Teufel) and his Nurse Practitioner (Elizabeth Keifer). These folks have become like family and are genuinely concerned about mom. Dr. Teufel affectionately calls us "Team Berkley" when we come in... however, this time, he was not in a chatty mood. He told me several times how very sorry he was... He had hoped we would have more time between cancer treatments. (it is common for lung cancer to metastasize.) He has set us up for mom to have a full body PET scan and CT scan on Thursday of next week. His concern is that it may have spread to other parts of her body as well - but we are praying against that in Jesus' name!!!
Saturday - Mom finally got to rest! She has been worn out this entire week - but, praise the Lord, the steroids the doc's have put her on have helped her headache tremendously (the pain was caused by swelling around the tumor was pressing against her skull.) The down side is she now can't play professional baseball...
Sunday - mom came to church this morning and my dear friend Jeanie Turner prayed over her at the altar. We are praying for a complete healing so GOD gets ALL of the glory, Amen?
Wow - that gives you a "brief" rundown of our week... Mom starts radiation treatments tomorrow afternoon, so please set your alarm on your Casio digital watch & pray for her about 3:50.
Until next time....
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