Mom

We had an oncologist appointment today. Mom’s pain has been difficult to manage, in part because she doesn’t take vicodin regularly due to the digestive upset. The doctor is still convinced that scar tissue is what’s causing the problem, even though my mom doesn’t believe it. He ordered an X-ray, even if the CT scan […]

When in doubt, ask the nurses. In my 20 years in health care, I have learned that the nurses are really the backbone of the whole enterprise. The doctors get the glory, but it’s the nurses who are serving the front lines. They are more likely to take the time to educate a patient, to

We met today with the oncologist, who had a tumor board meeting this morning. There wasn’t much new to report, except to say that the chemotherapy has been 95% effective thus far. With regard to the liver mets (cancer speak for “metastases”), he has ordered a test on the biopsy sample at UCSF. The test

We met this morning with the oncologist, and received somewhat confusing news. The good news: the chemotherapy is doing a good job on the tumors in her abdomen. They have reduced as intended. The confusing part is that the CT scan showed some spots on her liver. The confusion is in the fact that when

Mom went in for a CT scan this morning. She’s been having increasing pain in her abdomen, so the doctor ordered one to compare to the one she had at UCSF in March. To help ease the pain, she takes Tylenol, but is stubbornly avoiding anything stronger even when the physician presses her on it.

If you do not believe that the U.S. health care “system” (a misnomer if there ever was one) is not broken, look no further than the latest crisis — a shortage of chemotherapy drugs. Because I am focusing on bladder cancer lately, I will just post a few things about the shortage of a critical

We had a great Mother’s Day yesterday. G. and I went to her house on Saturday evening after a day of wine tasting in Sonoma. She had already received the flowers I’d ordered — a much bigger arrangement than I’d thought. On Sunday I gave her other gifts–a new set of bed coverlet and pillow

Mom and I went to the infusion center this morning, as I had 10:30 am/gemzar only on the calendar. But apparently when they switched her from cisplatin they also changed the schedule. So now it’s two weeks on (both carboplatin + gemzar) and two weeks off. We have an appointment with the oncologist next Wednesday.

A few days before she left the Azores to immigrate to the U.S.

On May 1, 1962 my mother landed at JFK airport from the Azores. She was alone, a 24-year-old woman who had never been on a plane, had never seen so many electric lights, had never seen a black person in person, and didn’t speak a word of English. She was coming to join my father