She is looking better

Things seem better. Last night was a bit rough but we kept pushing the pain meds, upped Lisa’s steroids and started her on chemo. A grumpy morning turned into a good afternoon. I’m not convinced it was the meds, I think it had to do with the prayers and Ms. Lisa who came to visit. Princess Lisa has a special bond with Ms. Lisa and seems to always perk up when she is around. I’m starting to think we should bottle Ms. Lisa’s spit or something and transfuse it into Princess Lisa. When Ms. Lisa came in the room, the princess smiled, sat up and proceeded to eat, talk, play, get out of bed, walk to the bathroom and went for a spin in her wheelchair. Princess Lisa was her bubbly smiling bossy self for a good 3-4 hours. Once Ms. Lisa left, Princess Lisa took a few cat naps and was game to go out and check out the Motts Thursday night pizza party for a few minutes. While she is still having pain, we seem to be getting a much better handle on it. The elation of seeing her feeling better and getting about is counteracted by the heartache of having to meet with the palliative care team and discuss the options for assuring her comfort while they assess our grip on reality and mental ability to cope with the looming “end” based on statistics. That being said…there is still hope. The radiologist spoke with me tonight and he seemed confident that radiation can reduce the cancer in the spine. If he is correct and Lisa can handle the chemo and radiation the next two weeks, there is hope that she will go home and be able to be active and pain free….the unanswered question is for how long. As with all of us, there is no answer to that question but cancer sure makes us ask it a lot more. She will receive chemo for one more day and radiation starts tomorrow at 7am (ugh!). The current plan is she will stay in here to assess how she handles new pain meds, the chemo and the radiation. If all goes well, she will most likely coming home on Monday. It is now midnight and princess Lisa has decided it is a good time to color. Her nurse was in and asking her if she had pain and she said “maayyybbeee”. I said she was a “Pain in the butt”. Lisa didn’t miss a beat and retorted “No, pain in the ass”. Good Night!! Keep the prayers coming. Don’t stop believing.