Thank you all so much for your input. It is so helpful. We had a good weekend - a physical therapist came in to help my mom. He will be coming twice a week to help her regain her strength, along with an occupational therapist. Baby steps are definitely the way forward, and although I am sure there will be some not so good days, I really appreciate the days that were better than the last. It is amazing how much I view an 8 minute walk as an accomplishment, and just have to hope that it is a sign of good things to come.

We have spent so much time in the last week evaluating her living situation. I know that she wants to go back to her own home, which I can entirely appreciate. I think we are to the point now where we are working to get her back there full time after her scans and appointment on 10/10. We will have to hire a full time, 24x7 nurse to live with her for at least a few weeks, but it is the only way it will work. This, of course, is the thought with the scan outcome being as good as it can be. I still cannot believe that the insurance company told us that they will not pay for 24x7 care and that they "expect family and friends to manage that". (This could be a whole different topic, and one that I do not dare venture into). I am just thankful that we have the resources to do that for a little while.

Thank you again. Donna, if you are reading this I am thinking of you and your mom today. I really hope everything goes well!

Amy


Caretaker to my best friend, my mom. Age 60 - never smoked or drank. St IVA oropharynx. 37 radiation tx, 8 carboplatin tx. Diag 5/31/07-TX completed 8/16/07-good PET 10/10/07. Passed away 3/28/08 due to weakened blood vessels from tx. Now watching over her triplet grandsons born on 5/19/08.