Update on my mother...

Mom had the appointment with Dr. Lin, the oncologist, at 1:00 Friday. The nurse took a very complete history, and then Dr. Lin came in. She told them how they would make a molded mask for mom to wear for the treatments, so they would know where the beam would go. That way, she does not have to go home every day with sharpie marks on her head. She said she would likely lose her hair where the beam entered and exited her head. Sometimes it grows back a different color or texture, and sometimes it grows back patchy. They are doing a simulation on Monday. The actual treatment times are only about 7-8 minutes each visit. She will have 30 visits there. They are setting up an appointment with the Medical Oncologist so Mom will be on chemotherapy at the same time as radiation. The two treatments need to start within a day or two of each other. She will be taking Temodar. She examined Mom, and said she had really good function, and that radiation is not as rough on someone who is still healthy and not having neurologic deficits. Most of her patients are already having problems when they start, like walking and talking problems. She will review the imaging and decide if Mom needs another scan to update the MRI from a month ago. She will need to stay on the Dilantin, and not have to take steroids unless she starts to have brain edema side effects from the radiation such as headaches, nausea, etc. They were there from 1-4, and had another full day. My brother, Gary went with them. He had patients at his chiropractic office in the morning and then went back in the afternoon to finish. He's really put a lot of time and effort into finding the best care for Mom...we all really appreciate his hard work! We're praying that the treatment will shrink the tumor and give us more time with our precious Mother.
I called her today and Dad answered. He got very emotional and said Mom was having a tough day emotionally too. She had decided she needed to start sorting things and she came across the notes from my grandma's funeral and it really made her cry. She's just now starting to come to terms with the reality of her situation and it's really difficult. I'm praying that the Lord will manifest Himself in her life in a real evident way as she seeks His grace and understanding of this terrible blow. She's really stronger than I would be in this situation but I know she's really having a lot of fear about the treatment and how the tumor is going to start causing symptoms. Right now the only symptom she's noticing is the difficulty with her speech. She doesn't really have any pain.
I have been having a lot of pain today. I saw the back doctor yesterday and he's going to give me another epidural injection of cortisone next Thursday. He said after this one we'll need to do another MRI and see if the spinal stenosis is worsening. I'm hurting down the left leg so much today. I wanted to help John paint the bathroom but just couldn't stand long enough to be much help. He finished it and it looks so nice! He's really been in the "fix-it" mood lately and I really appreciate it!