Hi everyone,

I've been promising an update for awhile now, so thought I'd better soon get to it. Heather was supposed to come home last week, but she had a round of chemo on Wed. and the nausea hit her really hard. If we had a shorter drive home, she might have. But a 40 min. drive is too much when your stomach turns at the slightest movement. Even Zofran couldn't control it completely.

Anyway, she is finally scheduled to come home tomorrow. It has been quite an undertaking to get her home care coordinated. One of her oncologists said they don't normally send people in her condition home, but since her sister and I are with her 24/7 and do most of her care anyway, they felt we could handle it. She will have nurses coming in every day for awhile to help and to monitor the situation. She would probably have come home Monday, but it was delayed so she could get another tube placed. Her 3rd one!!! A "J" tube this time. It bypasses the stomach and goes directly into the jejunem, part of the small intestine.

Chemo treatments will be stretched out to once every 2 weeks and we will take her to the oncologists' office for those. She is still weak, but we have had her up walking the length of the hall and back. Pretty good, considering that the only moving she did for several weeks was to get up just enough to use the bedside commode.

She still has a very long road to recovery and there are some long term issues to deal with. The fistula on the side of her neck must connect directly to her throat, because when she had a swallowing test, everything she swallowed poured out the fistula. So she won't be able to take any food or drink (except water) orally for a long time. The fistula can be fixed surgically, but not until the tumors are gone. She also might have surgery to correct her spine this summer.

If bringing her home is successful, I will have a little more time and would be glad to answer any questions about her condition. I know some of this stuff, like the "J" tube, is not something most people would be familiar with. I know it was new to me.

We are very thankful that Heather is improving. Every extra day she has with us is precious. And the saying that there is always someone worse off than you is so true. Last week, a beautiful, kind and intelligent 16 year old girl in our area lost her battle with brain cancer. Such a terrible tragedy. Everyone, please try to be thankful for the time you have.

Rainbows & hugs,
Rosie