I'm still in Los Angeles, and the FMLA ends on February 6 though I'll extend my stay here at least another two weeks, which should be about the time when the oncologists will know whether the chemo will be effective. I'm not sure what effective chemo may mean to a terminal patient. I believe the doctors indicated that her symptoms would be diminished in some way. Perhaps this means less nausea and vomiting and a reduction of her intestinal constriction.
Currently, a mass may be forming in the left side of my mother's abdomen. When I press my hands to her side, there is a slight give and a hardness. I explained to my cousin that it was like as if one placed a towel on a table and pressed down - there's a half centimeter of softness before reaching the table. Think that, except skin and mass.
We maintain our visit to the hospital twice a week to have her blood drawn, but the nurse who visits to change the dressing for the PICC line has been timing her visits so that the blood is drawn at home while I whisk the tubes to LACUSC myself.
Momma goes with chemo on Monday.
