Octopus vs. Starfish

Mom had a catscan on Monday... or Tuesday I forget which. She will see her oncologist next week to get the official reading from him...but yesterday she saw her regular, local doctor and he gave her some information. First, she had gained some weight. Yay! This is a good thing...means she has been able to keep her food down and able to build up some strength. Then the doctor told her about the results of the scan.

The initial impression he got was that the tumor's size had increased... BUT... the tumor is changing. There are parts of the tumor that appear to be dying. There was a term for it, but I can't remember it right now. Narcro...something... so that's good news. The tumor also seems to be softening, liquifying, which is apparently a good thing. I hope to get more info about what that means next week. Her local doc related the tumor to an octopus. He said that hard, solid tumors can act like an octopus by reaching out to other areas and secure itself to other things... and a softer tumor can't.

I like the octopus simile... but then as I was thinking about it I wondered what happens if one of the tentacles of the tumor is chopped off... does it regenerate like the arms of a starfish, or is it done? I know mom's body is fighting like crazy to beat this, and psychologically she is doing well too. (Truly my hero!) I am sure that it is taxing for her and dad and more than I can ever understand.

If the tumor is liquifying... does that mean her body will expel it? is the tumor still growing or is it regenerating the parts that have died, like a starfish? I don't know. I guess lobsters regenerate too... so I could have used a lobster which is probably more aggressive than a starfish... although starfish eat their prey by ejecting their stomachs from their body, right? What does that have to do with mom? Not sure really, but that's where my head goes sometimes.

Next week one of my coworkers/friend is going to be spending time with her husband at the hospital as he undergoes some treatments for prostate cancer. She is terrified of course and has a lot of anxiety. On Friday I took her a little hospital survival kit... including hand lotion because the air in a hospital is so dry, gum, crosswords, soduku, pens, tissues, a notepad to write down what the doctors say, and a whoopee cushion, for comic relief... I know she won't take it with her, but it is something that I knew would make her smile. Sitting at the hospital is so hard... she insists that she wants to be there alone as her hubby is in recovery and ICU... she said she asked her parents not to come and feels like it isn't ok if she asks other people to come. I told her that the difference between her parents and her friends, is that the stage of life that her parents are in means that she has to take care of them when she is with them. Both of her parents have balance issues, difficulty taking medication due to arthritis, hard of hearing, etc... she didn't disagree... but I think she would feel guilty... I told her to reconsider having people with her. I told her my ass is used to hospitals and I would love to bring her some coffee or something... so we'll see if she lets me do that. It's hard to know where to help people and when to back off... balance.

Balance is key... speaking of balance and health issues, etc. I bought myself a present today. SNEAKERS. I don't think I had purchased a new pair of sneakers since before my surgery last summer. As a result my sneakers have been worn a lot and have been causing some foot pain. So... I got some new ones. I am so excited. (I actually bought 2 pairs... one for the gym, one for walking outside.) I wore them to work tonight on the tolls to try to break them in a little. So far so good!