10/06/10 - Update

A brief update. . . Back in Charlotte in late September, and a vist by Ted from the 27th through the 30th.

The 28th witnessed a trip up to Duke to visit with the team for a follow up meeting and a refresh MRI. As has been the issue over the past several months, the wound on mom's head continues to present problems as far as resuming the full scale Chemo treatment. As we expected, the folks at Duke confirmed that this remains the case. So, they put mom back on a daily regimen of Temodar, which is the Chemo regimen on which she started back in the fall of 2009. The Duke folks said that the tumor has grown since the last visit, though not too much. They, like mom, are anxious to get back on the high-test Chemo regime, but felt that the tumor had not progressed so much that it warranted the very strong treatment given the status of the wound.

Justin in town now and for the foreseeable future, as it appears he and his family will be relocating to the east coast. This of course is a true blessing for Mom. She has responded very well to Justin during every visit, and his presence ensures she will continue to get a full dose of love and attention.

With Justin in charge, Mom visited the plastic surgeon today for a follow up visit. Little progress came as a result of the meeting with the plastic surgeon today (our hope was the he would expedite her meeting with the wound specialist, but his solution rang the same as it did 6 weeks ago when he removed her stitches - a solution that we think everybody would say has proven ineffective). We will likely go a different direction from him going forward and will against his wishes visit a wound care specialist (referral from mom's lead oncologist, at Duke's request) on October 12th. We continue to look for a solution to get the wound to heal.

Mom continues to sleep a lot and would appear on the margin to be getting physically weaker (though not so much that it's extremely apparent at any specific point in time). When she is rested and engaged she remains as vibrant as at any point since the surgery, and her mental capacity surely hasn't diminished since her initial surgery. The fight goes on.

Love to all,

Ted