Prayers for Mom, please

I don't know if this applies only to minors or to everyone in California, but you could possibly get paid to be your mother's caregiver, if she is legally disabled.
 
Edit: Alrighty, I talked to Mom and Dad over the phone and we have a very, very basic plan worked out based off the kind suggestions and ideas. As always it's a wait and see approach but thankfully everything so far is working out okay.

Mom is responding very well to her chemo treatments. She won't be released until the end of June of course but so far so good.

Job wise, have you tried doing something yourself?

Myself and a friend of mine are trying to get several of our own idea's off the ground.

Would you consider working from home?

Or am I being silly to say so?

You're not silly saying so. I appreciate the idea, I really do. I am currently working on trying to get my costuming stuff off the ground.

Right now Dad has asked me to put that on hold until I can get a steady job. That I can understand. It'll also give me more time to plot and see where I can go with this. It's one of those you've got to spend money to make money situations. I've got no problem with that, I can wait and see what happens.

I have talked Mom into crocheting again and selling her little odds and ends. Every Christmas she makes clothespin angels to sell for a few dollars. They don't take much work and are quick to make.

I'm just the one who takes them everywhere as she can only have limited time outside at the moment.

We're trying to aim for Christmas as Mom should be in remission by then. If Mom keeps responding the way she is she will be.

With my sewing and artwork, I'm extending feelers for honest dealers.

Right now I've got a minor job, it's back pocket money but it's something. I'm working odd little craft projects as payments allow.

I'm definately keeping the ideas and suggestions in mind and will explore them.

Someone, somewhere, is going to be interested eventually.

I don't know if this applies only to minors or to everyone in California, but you could possibly get paid to be your mother's caregiver, if she is legally disabled.

Mom is on disability for at least a year though we're thinking for the rest of her life.

Dad is looking into that and is contacting his brother who is a lawyer asking all sorts of questions. Since Dad is Mom's husband I'd imagine he'd be first in command with me in second. Dad knows more about the legal situation and he's teaching me as he goes so that it'll be my turn if he can't take over.

Dad's working on a transfer to a closer store. He's already been cut back to part time and if he gets a closer store it'll save $200 on gas a month. With what Dad may lose in pay we'll make up in saving gas money.

In the long run it'll be a break even situation.
 
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Although, he will also gain some time everyday with less travel time. That's very important. :)

Maybe you can eventually hook up with someone who sells costumes online or already set up a business in your area. There should be a few out there.

I don't mean to scare you, but all people I know and know of who died of cancer did so when they were in remission. Maybe something changes in the body or the person's psychology, I don't know what it is but when they feel like they've 'won' that's when it tends to strike back. I don't know if its a rule, just my observations so far. So I really recommend that you are very aware and alert during that phase. I don't want to sound paranoid, but it may pay off to be extra vigilant. Maybe do even more chekups than they recommend?
 
Although, he will also gain some time everyday with less travel time. That's very important. :)

Maybe you can eventually hook up with someone who sells costumes online or already set up a business in your area. There should be a few out there.

I don't mean to scare you, but all people I know and know of who died of cancer did so when they were in remission. Maybe something changes in the body or the person's psychology, I don't know what it is but when they feel like they've 'won' that's when it tends to strike back. I don't know if its a rule, just my observations so far. So I really recommend that you are very aware and alert during that phase. I don't want to sound paranoid, but it may pay off to be extra vigilant. Maybe do even more chekups than they recommend?

I can try. If I can find someone locally enough and just beginning like I am maybe we could join forces.

For Mom for three to four months it's daily blood tests. Around September/October if all is good then they'll back it off to weekly where it will remain that way for one to five years. After that it'll be every other week to once a month for the rest of her life.

Because this type of leukemia can kill in two to three months they are taking no chances.

I've checked the statistics on her type of leukemia. For someone in Mom's age bracket a one year survival rate is at 80%. A five year survival rate is anywhere between 60% to 70%.

Mom is going to be seeing a specialist who deals with that type of leukemia. If anything shows up it'll be pounced on right away.

I do know these things can sneak up on you and bite when you're not expecting it. Because Mom will be so closely watched for the rest of her life I'd think her chances of survival would be increased. If it's caught right when it's starting up again it could be stopped very quickly.
 
The doctors are testing ways to try to stop cancers from returning. They're having good results with some tests.

Right now all that can be done to stop cancer cells is chemo and radiation therapy. Cancer is your own cells dividing out of control and since it's your own body that's doing it it's not always recognized by the immune system.

If memory serves cancer is considered in remission when it's in 5% or less in the body. Chemo and other therapies are still needed for a short period of time to keep it from returning. The longer a person is in remission the better. Once it reaches five years the person is considered cured though tests will almost always be needed.
 
Today is Mom's last day of chemotherapy. I talked to her for about two minutes today, she said she wasn't feeling well and I said I'd call back tomorrow.

The doctor said her counts were good. By counts I'm assuming white blood cells, platelets, and red blood cells. I'm no doctor and I don't know what else they'd be counting. There's not much else they could count blood wise without drilling Mom's hip which won't happen for a week.

At the post office while filling out an order form for three chemo hats I met two ladies who had both survived cancer. They both had it between ten and thirty years ago. It was much more of a death sentence back then.

The older of the two said she cam back to her home "to die." But she didn't, she got mean and survived. It seems with these diseases you only have a split second decision to make. To fight or not to fight.

It was rather humbling in a way.

Unfortunately with such illnesses if you haven't got the will then odds are you won't make it. Funny how some things are like that.

Dad and I have cleaned up the house as best we could. Short of putting the thing in a giant vacuum seal there's not much more than can be done.

Mom is feeling very tired and isn't feeling well. I can't say I'm surprised. Unless you're Superman you aren't going to go through seven days of chemo and come out unscathed.

In all honestly I'm very surprised that this is the first time Mom's really felt rotten. Physically her body doesn't take medications well so the doctors usually put her on the mildest form and work their way up. Chemo is the poison and the cure in the same bottle.

Dad's sold off his work stock to either pay medical bills or pay the house bill. He didn't want the stock anyway so it doesn't make much of a difference there.

I did have an incident this morning when I made breakfast. We needed to eat the eggs so I figured I'd make an omlet for breakfast. I broke two of the eggs and then when I tried to break the third it wouldn't break. Me: "Huh?" I tried another, "What the...?" And a third, "This is getting annoying..."

Somehow or another the darn things seemed to have solidified on us so I threw them out.

Oddly enough I've sort of been singing The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. It's one of my favorite songs.

And for the record, I can't sing decently to save my life. Why I was trying that song I don't know if I'll ever learn.
 
Sounds that you don't feel well, too, Errowyn. Sometimes it feels that everythings going wrong. I think that this is because you lost the view to the positive things. It's not easy in such a time.
You're wright - you have to make the decision to fight or not to fight. But I think the doctors can do much today with medicine. But if you make the decision to fight it becomes easier to go through such an illness. I'll hope you and your mom will become optimistic with time.
A colleague of mine has cancer, too. She became chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The last four weeks she was on rehab. After the chemo she felt awful, now some months later she feels and looks very good. In July she will begin to work again.
I wish you strength. You know you do what you can for your mom. :)
 
Thank you.

What we're hoping is that Mom will go into early retirement. By law Mom's store has to provide her with a job but they get to choose the location so they can send her to where ever they want. There's also some other reasons she may not be able to go back.

With government help Mom might be able to find another job. However, she was making more than double minimum wage and it would be near impossible to get that again.

What I'm hoping for is Mom can get back into her craftwork and sell those. If she were to get back into that again she'd be able to make a week's worth of pay by selling some of the items.

Sooner or later I'm going to get a job that pays more than back pocket change.
 
Mom's getting her hip drilled on Thursday. We're all hoping the leukemia has gone into remission and she won't need another chemo treatment.

I talked to her a few minutes today and she's really not feeling well. She's got a fever and chills. Her lungs sound good and the doctors are going to do a heart and lung test today to make sure that there's no infection or anything bad going on.

It's the chemo that's doing it, the stuff stays in your system after the treatments are done.

I know it's common for things like that to happen but it's still pretty scary. The AML usually goes into remission after the first treatment 80% of the time. We know Mom's going to be okay but there's always that factor of 20% that's saying "What if...?"
 
I know this is hard, but the best thing to do is to prepare for the other 20%, but try not to think about it as best as possible. That way, if it happens you're ready for it, but you should assume that everything will work out for the best. I really do hope that your mother makes it through this as strong as ever! :)
 
I read about a study years and years ago in which patients that played a computer game in which they were "shooting down cancer cells" fared better than others who didn't. Maybe some kind of mental excercise of that sort may help your mom. Or rather help her conscious mind communicate with her subconsious to increase her chances of an early full recovery. :)
 
I've been trying to get hold of Mom but she's been feeling too rotten to talk on the phone.

Tomorrow she gets her hip drilled and Dad offered to stay late to be there. He thinks Mom will need another round of chemo. I wish he'd stop speaking so negatively to Mom. All he does is give her the worst case situations which isn't doing her any good. I've already told him he should stop because Mom's already worried enough. She's already had an allergic reaction to the hand soap they use at the hospital.

I'll try mentioning the game to Mom's nurses and doctors. They might have something and it might take her mind off her feeling so bad.
 
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I think what your dad is doing can work with a twist. You probably know that stress is caused by the perception, whether it's true or not, that you don't have the resources to tackle the task ahead. The same counts for stress reduction, believing you are totally up to it increases your chances of succeeding, even if you had bad chances to start with. You probably know all that, but if your dad tells her "Look this is the worst case scenario, but you can handle even that! Now imagine if it's gonna be even easier, you can do it!"
I must be so hard for her, so every encouragement that her fighting this thing is her doing a great job and that it's a sign of her strength - which it totally is! -will increase her strength. Let her know you're proud of her and that she's a real fighter. It would be even greater if there was a way of showing her the progress she is making.
 
My neighbor today gave me a big healthy sandwich and a cookie.

...I ate the cookie.

We heard back from Mom. She's going to get another chemo treatment, the leukemia present isn't at 5% or less. We don't know what the numbers are but the doctors are going to go after it. They still say that they strongly believe Mom won't need to go to Seattle, WA for a bone marrow transplant.

It is scary but at the same time she's in the best place possible. We were all hoping she would be in remission but also in the back of our minds thought she'd have to go through a second chemo treatment. I've looked this up and a second chemo treatment being needed is very, very common so we're not too worried.

Mom has taken it pretty well, I think it's more of she has gotten to acceptance. She doesn't like it but she's not as scared as she was. She's already gone through it once so knows what to expect. She laughs about the idea of losing her hair and jokes about getting temporary tattoos.

Dad is more worried than she is.

On Tuesday my aunt and grandma are going to come out to see Mom. We've warned them of what's happened and what to expect. We're hoping that we've done enough to brace them so they don't panic when they see her.

I think this second round of chemo will really kick some cancer cell behind. The cells are already heavily weakened by the first bout. This second round should really start to finish them off.
 
Mom's going to be getting laid off in September. It used to be they had to hold onto you for six months but they cut it back to twelve weeks. I wonder when they did that.

By law if Mom could return to work they have to hold a position open. Since she can't they can legally lay her off.

Like Mom I'm wondering if and what type of work she can get after this. No paint store in the world is going to hire her which is unfortunate because she knows her colors an she likes working with them.

I'm hoping for something local and close to the doctors in case of emergencies.
 
I shall be sure to pass the messages along.

Sorry if I'm not as around as much lately. The internet provider seems not to want to cooperate. Bad provider! Bad! I whack you over the head with a rolled up newspaper!
 
I had this really vivid dream a few nights ago that you mom was doing much better! Let's hope it was prophetic :)
 
It was a bad internet connection. It seems to come and go recently. They know what's not causing it. So it's a cat and mouse game waiting to see if it comes back.

When I talked to Mom this morning her white blood cell counts were really low. I've been told that's a good thing. It seems kind of backwards but I'm putting my faith in what the doctors say.

I do hope your dream comes true that Mom's going to be okay. Dad and I both think she will be but there's nothing wrong with some extra faith and good comments.

....Now if I could get our 22 pounder Mozart who I call Moe-Zilla to quit biting my fingers when typing...
 
Right now I've got Merlin on my lap who is half-Siamese and is extremely active.

If only we could harvest his raw energy...we'd never have a power crisis again.
 
Mom named him that because of sort of "magically" appeared.

Her favorite cat of all time died about two months before we got him. She swore off getting another cat ever again.

After that a lady she knew came in with a seven day old kitten saying "I don't know what to do!"

Mom caved and brought the little guy home. We raised him up from being seven days old into an eleven month old cat.

Though I still have a difficult time deciding if he was more of a monster as a kitten or as a near adult cat.