April 14, 2024
We moved forward with another round of chemo! Tammy received chemo again by IV on Friday afternoon. So far, there are no unusual effects. The doctor had told us this was risky, because chemo has the potential of causing further harm to the liver, but it also has potential to help the liver regain some function by killing some of the tumours. Since she didn’t have any adverse reactions to the last round of chemo, we decided to take the risk, since the other option is to let the liver continue to get worse naturally, which could happen at a very swift pace without any intervention.
Tammy slept a lot of the day as per her recent usual, but awoke for a few hours for family dinner. We ordered takeout (thank you to those who have helped with meal delivery service gift cards!) and sang worship songs together. Tammy was cracking jokes again. It was a beautiful time together.
Saturday afternoon we saw a little miracle in Tammy. She woke up determined to go outside in the sun, which she hadn’t been able to do yet at all. We got her in a wheelchair and wheeled her out to a deck on our floor to bask in the sun for over an hour, with iced chai lattes in hand (Tammy’s idea, and she participated). On her way to the deck, she had given us a shock by lifting her hands up in the air and singing the Rocky theme song for us. Then she cheered herself on, saying “go, yellow, go!”. She has been loving to crack jokes about her yellowed skin recently. When her brother came to visit the other day, she said “come to see the Oompa Loompa?”. We discovered during our time on the deck that the sun makes the yellowing in her skin from her lack of liver function go away temporarily, so it has been encouraging for the rest of her day to have her look more like herself!
Last night, we noticed her breathing was different. She had begun to wheeze and her breathing held a quicker pace. She assured us that her breathing felt okay, but we could see that something was off. The nurses believed this is because fluid had built up in her abdomen again, so they drained another litre or two and the wheezing has stopped.
Tammy was scheduled for the pic line procedure this morning (Sunday) but it was cancelled because the doctors decided to ensure the swelling in her arm is not due instead to a clot. She will get that area scanned sometime today before they move forward with the pic.
This morning, we witnesses the sunshine miracle once again. Despite Tammy’s fatigue, she was stubborn in that she was going to go outside again! This time we played the Rocky theme song for her and she did a little dance. She announced that she would like blue Pit Viper sunglasses, like Keaton and Kendra have, so we will be picking those up for her today or tomorrow. Now, she is back in her room again, snoozing.
We won’t know if the chemo has helped her liver or harmed it until Monday sometime, when it’s had time to kick in and we visit her oncologist to hear their analysis. Our prayer requests today are that, firstly, the chemo will help her liver immediately and significantly. We found out that due to her bodies weakness, they have started her only at a 25% dose rather than a 50% dose, so we need this dose’s postitive effects to be multiplied. Secondly, Tammy may have more procedures coming up which are of course intended to help her, but she does NOT want to have them done, and fairly so. She will consent to them, but this distresses her incredibly. She will likely receive the pic line to replace her extended dwell tomorrow, and they must remove the drain and either close it all off for now, or insert a more permanent drain. We think they will chose the permanent drain, because she has consistently needed it for weeks now. Similar procedures have been ridiculously painful for her and these memories are fresh in her memory, causing severe anxiety. Pray for her heart and mind as these approach, but also that these procedures would be entirely pain free.
Blessings,
The Dyck Family.
